Psalm 106— Hallelu-jah.
1 Praise Yahweh! Oh, give thanks to Yahweh, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise? 3 Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times! 4 Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation, 5 that I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance.
“‘Praise ye Yahweh’ - This, which is a sort of title, is wanting in several MSS., and in the Syriac Version.” (Adam Clarke) — Margin, ‘Hallelu-jah.’ The two Hebrew words mean, ‘praise ye Yahweh.’ They are the same words with which the previous psalm closes, and are here designed to indicate the general duty illustrated in the psalm.” (Albert Barnes) “This is not so properly a new psalm, as a continuation of the former: it takes up the subject where the preceding left off… The Lord's goodness, and Israel's unworthiness.” (Robert Hawker)
“‘For He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.’ Not only is God good in Himself, but His outflowing, revealed mercy, is extended to every person in every generation. “The prophet exhorteth’ the people to praise God for His benefits past, that ‘thereby their minds may be strengthened against all present troubles and despair.’ He is good, etc.” (Thomas Scott)
“’Who can utter the mighty acts [or powers] of Yahweh?’ - to which answers the Greek word for the miracles of Christ, Matthew 11:20, and Kimchi here restrains them to the wonders wrought in Egypt, and at the Red sea: but they may as well be extended to the mighty acts of God, and the effects of his power, in the creation of all things out of nothing; in the sustaining and government of the world; in the redemption of his people by Christ; in the conversion of sinners, and in the final perseverance of the saints; in all which there are such displays of the power of God as cannot be uttered and declared by mortal tongues.” (Gill) “The prophet exhorts the people to praise God for his past benefits, that by this their minds may be strengthened against all present troubles and despair.” (Geneva Study Bible)— “’Who can show forth all His praise?’— Surely none can. David saith he will, Psalms 9:1, but soon found his utter inability; for according to thy name, O Lord, so is thy praise, saith he in another psalm. The best way is, as here in the ensuing verses, to submit to God’s justice, and to implore His mercy, and to study integrity, Psalms 106:3-6.” (Trapp)— “’Who can speak the great things of God?’ Who can find language which will suitably express what he has done, or which will ‘come up’ in sublimity to his acts? In other words, human language must fall immeasurably short of adequately expressing the praises of Yahweh, or conveying the fullness of what he has done. Who has not felt this when he has endeavored to praise God in a proper manner?… ‘Who can shew forth all His praise - Hebrew, ‘Cause to be heard.’ etc.” (Albert Barnes)
And obeyed.
“‘Blessed are they— that keep judgment’ - "that holdeth doom." (Anglo-Saxon) That are of right principles and upright practices; this is real and substantial praising of God. Thanks doing is the proof of thanksgiving; and the good life of the thankful is the life of thankfulness. Those that say God a-thank only, and no more, are not only contumelious, but injurious.” (Trapp) ”He shows that it is not enough to praise God with the mouth, unless the whole heart agrees to it, and all our life framed after it.” (Geneva Study Bible)— “’And he that doeth righteousness at all times’— and doth righteousness in ilkere tide.” (Anglo-Saxon) So preaching forth the virtues (or praises) of God who hath called him into his marvellous light, 1 Peter 2:9, and composing his whole course, velar spectatum aliquod simulaehrum et documentum laudis eius constans atque perpetuum.” (Trapp)
“’Remember me, O Lord, with the favor’— Let the good will that You bear to Your people extend to me, that by it I may be received into Your number.” (Geneva Study Bible)— “’O visit me with Your salvation that I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance.’ This is a beautiful breaking off in the hymn of praise, to put up an earnest prayer that the Psalmist may be made a rich partaker of the covenant-mercies he had been blessing God for; and that he might see for himself what the people of God enjoyed, and partake in that rich, covenant-love the Lord bestowed upon his chosen. Reader! in these great and distinguishing blessings, consists the happiness of the soul. To see Christ as He is in Himself, is blessed: to see Christ as being interested in him, is yet more blessed: and to see Christ in the souls fellowship and communion with him, from one hour to another, is more blessed still. Lord, I would say, remember me with this favor, and heaven will have begun in my soul!” (Robert Hawker)
6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; they did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, but rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; so He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 10 He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 The waters covered their enemies; there was not one of them left. 12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.
13 They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel,14 but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. 15 And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. 16 When they envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of Yahweh, 17 the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, and covered the faction of Abiram. 18 A fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked. [Further] 19 They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image. 20 Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. 21 They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
24 Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His Word, 25 but complained in their tents, and did not heed the voice of Yahweh. 26 Therefore He raised His hand in an oath against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness, 27 to overthrow their descendants among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. 28 They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead. 29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, and the plague broke out among them. 30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped. 31 And that was accounted to him for righteousness to all generations forevermore.
32 They angered Him also at the waters of strife,[ Meribah] so that it went ill with Moses on account of them; 33 because they rebelled against His Spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips. 34 They did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, 35 but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; 36 they served their idols, which became a snare to them. 37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, 38 and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. 39 Thus they were defiled by their own works, and played the harlot by their own deeds. 40 Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance. 41 And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. 43 Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. 44 Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; 45 and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies. 46 He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them away captive.
“The longsuffering of Yahweh is no sign of ultimate salvation of those who receive it. After an initial call to praise God for His goodness (1-3) and the psalmist’s individual plea for God to visit him with His salvation (4-5). We read in this Psalm of many earthly intercessors who stay God’s judgment for a period, but the salvation story is a Message of a Heavenly Intercessor who ever lives to make intercession for His people—spiritual Israel. Let us strive to be counted in the number. Let us not err as the Israelites of old did. Let us remember: ‘We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.’ (vs 6) And let us go into the temple and take hold of the Horn of the altar- Yeshua Messiah.” (C. H. Spurgeon)
47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise. 48 Blessed be Yahweh God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, “Amen! Praise Yahweh!
“The [next generation of] Israelites had been put in possession of Canaan, by the immediate power of JEHOVAH, ‘that they’ might keep his statutes, and observe his laws … Deuteronomy 4:40 and they would have been very happy, if they had thus ‘kept judgment, and done righteousness’ at all times; that is, if they had persevered in attendance on the ordinances of God, and in obedience to hHs commandments. (…. Matthew 5:3-12. Luke 11:27-28.) But though Israel, as a nation, had lost much of their prosperity by sin; yet every individual, who thus ordered his conduct, was and would be happy. No mere man indeed obeys God perfectly; yet every true believer makes this his constant aim: nor shall we ever be perfectly happy till we are perfectly obedient; that is, till fuily delivered from sin and all its consequences…. The Psalmist well understood the difference between the nation of Israel, and the true Israelites found among them. (… John 1:47-51. Romans 2:25-29; Romans 9:6-9.) He was one of that nation, and shared all its external privileges: but his desire and prayer was, that he might be remembered with the favour or gracious forgiveness and acceptance, shewn to the true people of God, and visited with His salvation; and that he might see and share the blessings, the joy, and the triumphs, on earth and in heaven, of those who are indeed ‘a chosen generation, a holy nation,’ and the Lord’s highly valued inheritance (1 Peter 2:9-10).” (Thomas Scott)