Verse 30. Why is the pacifying of God's wrath, and the staying of the plague ascribed to Phinehas, having a blush of irregularity in it, rather than to the acts of Moses and the judges, which were by express command from God and very regular? For answer, the acts of Moses and the judges slaked the fire of God's wrath, that of Phinehas quenched it; again, the acts of Moses and the judges had a rise from a spark, that of Phinehas from a flame of zeal and holy indignation in him; hence the Lord, who is exceedingly taken with the springs and roots of actions, sets the crown upon the head of Phinehas. Edmund Staunton, in a Sermon preached before the House of Lords, 1644.
Verse 30. So the plague was stayed. A man doth not so live by his own faith, but in temporal respects the faith of another man may do him good. Masters by their faith obtained healing for their servants, parents for their children, Mt 15:28. "Oh, man, great is thy faith!" "Jesus seeing their faith", healed the sick of the palsy. God's people for the town or place where they live: "The innocent" ( i.e., the faithful doer) "shall deliver the island", Job 22:30. Ge 18:32, "If ten righteous persons shall be found there, I will not destroy it for ten's sake." Especially in Magistrates, Moses, Nu 14:1-45; Hezekiah, Isa 37:1-38, put up prayers, and God saved the people and places, they prayed for: Then Phinehas executed judgment (appeased God by faith) and so the plague was stayed. Matthew Lawrence.
Verse 30. Elevation of mind and sweetness of spirit are pearls of great price, and if we wish to preserve them we had better intrust them to God's own keeping. If Moses lost his faith, it was by first losing self command: and if a man lose this, it is hard to say what next he may lose: like the mad warrior who makes a missile of his shield and hurls it at the head of all enemy, he is henceforward open to every fiery dart, to the cut and thrust of every assailant. But, as John Newton remarks, "The grace of God is as necessary to create a right temper in a Christian on the breaking of a china plate as on the death of an only son"; and as no man can tell on any dawning day but what that may be the most trying day in all his life, how wise to pray without ceasing, "uphold me according unto thy word. Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: keep the door of my lips." "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression."— James Hamilton.
Verse 32. It went ill with Moses. This judgment of God on that sin did not imply that he had blotted Moses out of the book of life, or the number of the saints, or otherwise than forgive his sin. For he continued still to talk with him, and advise with him of the governing of his people, and spake to Joshua that he should be faithful to him as his servant Moses. That was not the true Canaan from which he was shut out, but only the figure and shadow; and that he was allowed to see; a vision well worthy of all his labours, for the more excellent things signified by it. Isaac Williams, in "The Characters of the Old Testament," 1873.
Verse 33. They provoked his spirit. As Abraham was distinguished for his faith, so was Moses for his meekness; for Scripture has declared that he was "very meek, above all the men which were on the face of the earth", Nu 12:3. Yet, judging from facts recorded of him, we should be inclined to suppose that he was by nature remarkable for sensitiveness and hastiness of temper—that was his one besetting infirmity. Such appears to have been evinced when he slew the Egyptian; when he twice smote the rock in the wilderness; and on that occasion when he was "punished", as the psalmist says, "because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips", and when he broke the two tables of stone. Something of the same kind appears to have been the case with our own Hooker, whose biographer attributes to him such singular meekness, while his private writings indicate a temper keenly alive and sensitive to the sense of wrong. Isaac Williams.
Verse 33. They provoked his spirit. In a dispensation itself mainly gracious, and foreshadowing one which would be grace altogether, it was of prime importance that the mediating men should be merciful and gracious, long suffering, and slow to anger. And sure they were in marvellous manner. . . . Brimming, over with instruction as is this passage, we must leave it with a few remarks.
1. How careful preachers of the gospel and expounders of Scripture should be not to give an erroneous impression of God's mind or message. The mental acumen is rare, but the right spirit is rarer. But what is the right spirit?—A loving spirit, a gentle spirit, a faithful spirit, a meek and weaned spirit, a spirit which says, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth", and a spirit which adds, "All that the Lord giveth me, that will I speak", that excellent spirit which is only imparted by the good Spirit of God. For if He withdraw, even a Moses ceases to be meek, and ceasing to be meek, even a Moses becomes a bad divine and an erroneous teacher, striking the rock that has been already stricken once for all, and preaching glad tidings gruffly. He who gives the living water does not grudge it; but sometimes, instead of "Ho! every one that thirsteth", the preacher says, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" and makes the very invitation repulsive.
2. When any one has run long and run well, how sad it is to stumble within a few steps of the goal! If Moses had an earthly wish, it was to see Israel safe in their inheritance, and his wish was all but consummated. Faith and patience had held out well nigh forty years, and in a few months more the Jordan would be crossed and the work would be finished. And who can tell but this very nearness of the prize helped to create something of a presumptuous confidence? The blood of Moses was hot to begin with, and he was not the meekest of men when he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. But he had got a good lesson in ruling his spirit, and betwixt the long sojourn with Jethro and the self discipline needful in the charge of this multitude, he might fancy that he had now his foot on the neck of this enemy: when lo! the sin revives and Moses dies.
Blessed is the man that feareth alway! Blessed is the man who, although years have passed without an attempt at burglary, still bars his doors and sees his windows fastened! Blessed is the man who, although a generation has gone since the last eruption, forbears to build on the volcanic soil and dreads fires which have smouldered for fourscore years! Blessed is the man who, even when the high seas are crossed and the land is made, still keeps an outlook! Blessed is the man who, even on the confines of Canaan, takes heed of the evil heart, lest, with a promise of entering in, he should come short through unbelief!
Verse 33. They provoked his spirit , etc. Angry he certainly was; and when, reverting to a former miracle, the Most High directed him to take the wonder staff—his rod of many miracles and at the head of the congregation "speak to the rock", and it would "give forth its water", in the heat and agitation of his spirit he failed to implement implicitly the Divine command. Instead of speaking to the rock he spoke to the people, and his harangue was no longer in the language calm and dignified of the lawgiver, but had a certain tone of petulance and egotism. "Hear now, ye rebels, must we—must I and Aaron, not must Jehovah—fetch you water out of this rock?" And instead of simply speaking to it, he raised the rod and dealt it two successive strokes, just as if the rock were sharing the general perversity, and would no more than the people obey its Creator's bidding. He was angry, and he sinned. He sinned and was severely punished. Water flowed sufficient for the whole camp and the cattle, clear, cool, and eagerly gushing, enough for all the million; but at the same moment that its unmerited bounty burst on you, ye rebels, "a cup of wrath was put into the hand of Moses." (Van Oosterzee.) To you, ye murmurers, there came forth living water; to your venerable leaders the cup of God's anger. "The Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." Nu 20:12. James Hamilton.
Verse 33. He spake unadvisedly with his lips. The Lord desires him to address the rock, but Moses speaks to Israel. God wishes him to speak a word to the inanimate stone, and Moses strikes it twice. God still is willing that the people shall remain as his inheritance, but Moses evidently treats them with ill will and much offensiveness. God wishes to relieve, and give refreshing to the people in their thirst, and Moses is selected to cooperate with him in all such joy; but mark how, on this very day, a deep discord between God's inclination and the mind of Moses shows itself. God is inclined to grant forgiveness,—Moses inclines to punishment; before, the very opposite seemed to prevail. God is forbearing,—Moses, filled with bitterness; God seeks to glorify his grace,—with Moses, self, not God, comes into prominence. "Must we",—not, "must the Lord",—but "must we fetch you water out of this rock?" We see now, in this prophet, strong at other times, the first plain indications of decay and weariness. He has grown tired (and truly it should not seem strange, for which of us could have sustained a struggle such as his for half the time?) of carrying these stubborn children any longer now. This man, so truly great, has never for an instant hitherto forgotten his own dignity in presence of all Israel; but now, he is no longer master of himself. J.J. Van Oosterzee.
Verse 33. He spake unadvisedly. A gracious person may be surprised and fall suddenly among thieves that lurk behind the bushes. Nay, very holy men, unless wonderful wary, may be quickly tripped up by sudden questions and unexpected emergencies. Who knows the subtilty of sin, and the deceitfulness of his own heart? Take heed of answering quickly, and send up sudden ejaculations to heaven before you reply to a weighty and doubtful motion. Samuel Lee.
Verse 34-38. The miracles and mercies which settled them in Canaan made no more deep and durable impressions upon them than those that fetched them out of Egypt; for by that time they were well warm in Canaan, they corrupted themselves, and forsook God. Observe the steps of their apostasy.
1. They spared the nations which God had doomed to destruction (Ps 106:34). When they had got the good land God had promised them, they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants, whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God, that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he.
2. When they spared them, they promised themselves, that for all this, they would not join in any dangerous affinity with them; but the way of sin is down hill; omissions make way for commissions; when they neglect to destroy the heathen, the next news we hear is, they were mingled among the heathen , made leagues with them, and contracted an intimacy with them, so that they learned their works (Ps 106:35). That which is rotten will sooner corrupt that which is sound, than be cured or made sound by it.
3. When they mingled with them, and learned some of their works that seemed innocent diversions and entertainments, yet they thought they would never join with them in their worship; but by degrees they learned that too (Ps 106:36). They served their idols in the same manner, and with the same rites that they served them; and they became a snare unto them, that sin drew on many more, and brought the judgments of God upon them, which they themselves could not but be sensible of, and yet knew not how to recover themselves.
4. When they joined with them in some of their idolatrous services, which they thought had least harm in them, they little thought that ever they should be guilty of that barbarous and inhuman piece of idolatry, the sacrificing of their living children to their dead gods: but they came to that at last (Ps 106:37-38) in which Satan triumphed over his worshippers, and regaled himself in blood and slaughter. They sacrificed their sons and daughters , pieces of themselves to devils ; and added murder, the most unnatural murder, to their idolatry; one cannot think of it without horror; they "shed innocent blood", the most innocent, for it was infant blood, nay, it was the "blood of their sons and their daughters." See the power of the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, and see his malice. The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villainy which they that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly "gives them up to a reprobate mind" (Ro 1:28). Matthew Henry.
Verse 37. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils. We need no better argument to discover the nature of these gods than this very service in my text accepted of them: for both by the record of sacred writ, and relation of heathen authors and other writers, we know that nothing was so usually commanded nor gratefully accepted by these heathenish gods, as was the shedding of man's blood, and the sacrificing of men, maids, and children unto them, as appears by the usual practice of men in former times. From the testimonies of Scripture, I give only the example of the king of Moab, mentioned in 2Ki 3:27, where it is said, that, being in some straits, "He took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall."
The stories likewise of the heathen are full of like examples. When the oracle of Apollo was asked by the Athenians how they might make amends for their killing of Androgens, it willed them to send yearly to king Minos seven bodies of each sex to appease the wrath of god. Now this kind of yearly sacrifice continued still in Athens in the time of Socrates. Thus the Carthaginians, being vanquished by Agathocles, king of Sicily, and supposing their god to be displeased, to appease him did sacrifice two hundred noble men's children. This custom was ancient even before the Trojan war, for then was Iphigenia sacrificed. Thus we read that the Latins sacrificed the tenth of their children to Jupiter; that men and children were usually sacrificed to Saturn in many places in Candia, Rhodomene, Phoenice, Africa, and those commonly the choice and dearest of their children and most nobly descended. The manner of sacrificing their children to Saturn, Diodorus relates to be this: bringing their children to the statue or image of Saturn, which was of huge greatness, they gave them into his hands, which were made so hollow and winding that the children offered slipped and fell down through into a cave and furnace of fire. These sacrifices continued in use till the birth and death of our Saviour Christ, who came to destroy the work of the devil; for such sacrifices were first forbidden by Augustus Caesar; after more generally by Tiberius (in whose reign our Saviour suffered) who, as Tertullian writes, so straitly forbade them, that he crucified the priests who offered them: howbeit, even in Tertullian's time, and after in Eusebius' and Lactantius' times, such sacrifices were offered (but closely) to Jupiter Latialis.
Who can now doubt, seeing such exceeding superstitious cruelty, but that the gods commanding such sacrifices were very devils and enemies to mankind? God commands no such thing, but forbids it, and threatens plagues to his people, because they had forsaken him and "built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, not spake it, neither came it into my mind" (Jer 19:5). Most infallibly then we may conclude that none but Satan, that arch devil, with his angels, were the commanders of such service, for this agrees right well with his nature, who hath been a murderer from the beginning. Robert Jenison, in "The Height of Israel's Heathenish Idolatrie, in Sacrificing their Children to the Devil," 1621.
Verse 37. Yea, they sacrificed their sons , etc. From this we learn that inconsiderate zeal is a flimsy pretext in favour of any act of devotion. For by how much the Jews were under the influence of burning zeal, by so much does the prophet convict them of being guilty of greater wickedness; because their madness carried them away to such a pitch of enthusiasm, that they did not spare even their own offspring. Were good intentions meritorious, as idolaters suppose, then indeed the laying aside of all natural affection in sacrificing their own children was a deed deserving the highest praise. But when men act under the impulse of their own capricious humour, the more they occupy themselves with acts of external worship, the more do they increase their guilt. For what difference was there between Abraham and those persons of whom the prophet makes mention, but that the former, under the influence of faith was ready to offer up his son, while the latter, carried away by the impulse of intemperate zeal, cast off all natural affection, and imbrued their hands in the blood of their own offspring. John Calvin.
Verse 37. Devils , Mydv, Shedim. It appears that children were sacrificed to the deities thus named; that they were considered to be of an angry nature, and inimical to the human race, and thus the object of the homage rendered to them was to avert calamities. The name Mydv may signify either lord or master, or anything that is black, it being derived from an Arabic Ain Vav verb—viz., to be black, or to be master. John Jahn, in "Biblical Antiquities."
Verse 37-38. We stand astonished, doubtless, at this horrid, barbarous, and unnatural impiety, of offering children by fire to a Moloch: but how little is it considered, that children, brought up in the ways of ignorance, error, vanity, folly, and vice, are more effectually sacrificed to the great adversary of man kind!— George Horne.
Verse 39. And went a whoring with their own inventions. As harlotry is one of the most abominable of sins that can be committed by a daughter or a wife; so often in the Scriptures turning from God and especially the practice of idolatry is called whoredom and fornication, Ps 73:27 Ex 34:15-16. William S. Plumer.
Verse 40. He abhorred his own inheritance. Whenever great love sinks into great hate it is termed abhorrence. Lorinus.
Verse 43. They were brought low for their iniquity. Sin is of a weakening and impoverishing nature; it has weakened all mankind, and taken from them their moral strength to do good; and has brought them to poverty and want; to be beggars on the dunghill; to a pit wherein is no water; and left them in a hopeless and helpless condition; yea, it brings the people of God often times after conversion into a low estate, when God hides his face because of it, temptations are strong, grace is weak, and they become lukewarm and indifferent to spiritual things. John Gill.
Verse 46. He made them also to be pitied of all them that carried them captives. This improved feeling towards the Jews through God's influence appears in Da 1:9; as Joseph similarly had his captivity improved by God's favour (Ge 39:21). So Evil merodach, King of Babylon, treated kindly Jehoiachin, king of Judah (2Ki 25:27). A.R. Fausset.
Verse 47. Gather us. Bishop Patrick says that, in his opinion, this verse refers to those, who, in the days of Saul, or before, were taken prisoners by the Philistines, or other nations; whom David prays God to gather to their own land again; that they might worship him in that place which he had prepared for the ark of his presence. Thomas Fenton.
Verse 48. Amen. Martin Luther said once of the Lord's Prayer that "it was the greatest martyr on earth because it was used so frequently without thought and feeling, without reverence and faith." This quaint remark, as true as it is sad, applies perhaps with still greater force to the word "Amen." Familiar to us from our infancy is the sound of this word, which has found a home wherever the natives have learnt to adore Israel's God and Saviour. It has been adopted, and without translation retained, in all languages in which the gospel of Jesus the Son of David is preached. The literal signification, "So be it", is known to all; yet few consider the deep meaning, the great solemnity, and the abundant consolation treasured up in this word, which has formed for centuries the conclusion of the prayers and praises of God's people. A word which is frequently used without due thoughtfulness, and unaccompanied with the feeling which it is intended to call forth, loses its power from this very familiarity, and though constantly on our lips, lies bedridden in the dormitory of our soul. But it is a great word this word "Amen"; and Luther has truly said, "As your Amen is, so has been your prayer." It is a word of venerable history in Israel and in the church. The word dates as far back as the law of Moses. When a solemn oath was pronounced by the priest, the response of the person who was adjured consisted simply of the word "Amen." In like manner the people responded "Amen" when, from the heights of Ebal and Gerizim, the blessings and the curses of the divine law were pronounced. Again, at the great festival which David made when the ark of God was brought from Obed Edom, the psalm of praise which Asaph and his brethren sang concluded with the words, "Blessed be the Lord. God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen" (1Ch 16:36). Thus we find in the Psalms, not merely that David concludes his psalm of praise with the word Amen, but he says, And let all the people say, Amen. Adolph Saphir , in "The Lord's Prayer," 1870.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. Take this verse as the theme of the Psalm, and we shall then see that its exhortation to praise,
1. Is directed to a special people: chosen, redeemed, but sinful, borne with, and forgiven.
2. Is supported by abundant arguments. Man not to be praised, for he sins. God gives in his goodness, and forgives in his mercy, and is therefore to be thanked.
3. Is as applicable now as ever: for our story is a transcript of Israel's.
Verse 2.
1. A challenge.
2. A suggestion: at least let us do what we can.
3. An ambition: in the ages to come we will make known with the church to angels, and all intelligent beings, the mighty acts of divine grace.
4. A question—shall I be there?
Verse 3. The blessedness of a godly life.
Verse 4.
1. The language of Humility: "Remember me, O Lord." Let me not escape thy notice amongst the many millions of creatures under thy care.
2. The language of Faith.
(a) That God has a people to whom he shows special favour.
(b) That he himself has provided salvation for them.
3. The language of prayer.
(a) For the free gift of salvation.
(b) For the common salvation—not wishing to be peculiar, but to be as "Thy people", taking them for all in all, both here and hereafter. Walking in the footsteps of the flock.
"Be this my glory, Lord, to be
Joined to thy saints, and near to thee."— G.R.
Verses 4, 7, 45. In Ps 106:4, a remembrance desired. In Ps 106:7, a failure of remembrance deplored. In Ps 106:45, a divine remembrance extolled.
Verse 5.
1. The Persons: "Thy chosen"; "Thy nation"; "Thine inheritance."
2. The Privileges: "The good of thy chosen"; "The gladness of thy nation"; "The glory of thine inheritance."
3. The Pleas: "That I may see", etc. They were once as I am: make me what they are now.
(a) My salvation is everything to me. "That I may see," etc. "That I may rejoice", etc. They are many, I am but one. "That I may glory", etc.— G.R.
Verse 6. In what respects men may be partakers in the sins of their ancestors.
Verses 7-8.
1. On man's part a darkened understanding, ungrateful forgetfulness, and provocation.
2. On God's part: understanding discovering a reason for mercy; memory mindful of the covenant; patience revealing its power.
Verses 7-8.
1. A special provocation; they murmured at the Red Sea.
2. A special deliverance; "Nevertheless", etc.
3. A special Design; "For his own sake"; "That he might make his power known."— G.R.
Verse 8. Salvation by grace a grand display of power.
Verse 8.
"Why are men saved?" See "Spurgeon's Sermons", No. 115.
1. The glorious Saviour, "He."
2. The favoured persons, who are they?
(a) They were a stupid people: "Our fathers understood not", etc., Ps 106:7.
(b) An ungrateful people: "They remembered not", etc., Ps 106:7,13,24, etc.
(c) A provoking people.
3. The reason of salvation: "He saved them for his name's sake." The name of God is his person, his attributes, and his nature. We might, perhaps, include this also: "My name is in him"—that is, in Christ; he saves us for the sake of Christ, who is the name of God. He saved them that he might manifest his nature: "God is love." He saved them to vindicate his name.
4. The obstacles removed: "Nevertheless."
Verse 9. Israel at the Red Sea. See "Spurgeon's Sermons", No. 72.
1. Israel's three difficulties.
(a) The Red Sea in front of them. This was not put there by an enemy; but by God himself. The Red Sea represents some great and trying providence placed in the path of every newborn child of God, to try his faith, and the sincerity of his trust in God.
b) The Egyptians behind them,—the representatives of the sins which we thought were dead and gone. (c) The third difficulty was faint hearts within them.
2. Israel's three helps.
(a) Providence.
(b) Their knowledge that they were the covenant people of God.
(c) The man,—Moses. So the believer's hope and help is in the God man Christ Jesus.
3. God's grand design in it. To give them a thorough baptism into his service, consecrating them for ever to himself (1Co 1-2).
Verse 9. ( second clause ). Dangerous and difficult paths rendered safe and easy by God's leadership.
Verse 11. ( second clause ). Song over sins forgiven.
Verses 12-14. The faith of nature, based on sight, causes transient joy, soon evaporates, dies in utter unbelief, and conducts to greater sin.
Verses 13-15.
1. Mercies are sooner forgotten than trials: "They soon forgat", etc. We write our afflictions on marble, our mercies upon sand.
2. We should wait for God, as well as upon God: "They waited not," etc.
3. Immoderate desire for what we have not of worldly goods, tempts God to deprive us of what we have: Ps 106:14.
4. Prayer may be answered for evil as well as for good: "He gave them their request", then smote them with a plague.
5. Carnal indulgence is inimical to spiritual mindedness: Ps 106:15. Better have a lean body and healthy soul, than a healthy body and leanness of soul. "Poor in this world, rich in faith." There are few of whom it can be said, "I wish thou mayest prosper and be in health," etc. (3Jo 2). G.R.
Verse 14. The wickedness of inordinate desires.
1. They are out of place—"in the wilderness."
2. They are assaults upon God—"and tempted God."
3. They are despisers of former mercies—see preceding verses.
4. They involve solemn danger—see following verse.
Verse 16. The sin of envy. Its base nature, its cruel actions its unscrupulous ingratitude, its daring assaults, its abomination before God.
Verse 19. The sinner as an inventor.
Verses 19-22.
1. The Sin remembered.
(a) Idolatry: not forgetting God merely, or disowning him, but setting up an idol in his place.
(b) Idolatry of the worst kind: changing be glory of God into the similitude of an ox, etc.
(c) The idolatry of Egypt under which they had suffered, and from which they had been delivered.
(d) Idolatry after many wonderful interpositions of the true God in their behalf.
2. The Remembrance of Sin.
(a) For Humiliation. It was the sin of their fathers.
(b) For self condemnation. "We have sinned with our fathers." It was our nature in them, and it is their nature in us that has committed this great sin.
Verse 23. Moses, the intercessor, a type of our Lord. Carefully study his pleading as recorded in Ex 32:1-35.
Verse 23.
1. Mediation required: "He said that he would destroy them," etc.
2. Mediation offered: "Moses stood before him in the breach."
3. Mediation accepted: "To turn away his wrath", etc. Ex 32:1-35. G.R.
Verse 24-26. Murmuring.
1. Arises from despising our mercies.
2. Is fostered by unbelief.
3. Is indulged in all sorts of places.
4. Makes men deaf to the Lord's voice.
5. Provokes great judgments from the Lord.
Verse 24-27.
1. The Rest promised: "The pleasant land."
2. The Refusal of the Rest: "They despised", etc.
3. The Reason of the Refusal: unbelief. "They could not enter in because of unbelief."— G.R.
Verse 30-31. The effects of one decisive act for God; immediate, personal, and for posterity.
Verses 32-33.
1. The afflictions of God's people are for the trial of their faith.
2. The trial of their faith is to bring them from dependence upon circumstances to depend upon God himself.
3. The forbearance of God with his people is greater than that of the best of men. G.R.
Verse 33.
1. What it is so to speak unadvisedly.
2. What is the great cause of it—"they provoked his spirit."
3. What the results may be.
Verse 34-42.
1. What Israel did not do. They began well, but did not complete the conquest of their foes: Ps 106:34.
2. What they did do: Ps 106:35-39.
(a) They became friendly with them.
(b) They adopted their habits: "learned their works."
(c) They embraced their religion: "served their idols."
(d) They imitated their cruelties; Ps 106:37-38.
(e) They did worse than the heathen (Ps 106:39), they added wicked inventions of their own.
3. What God did to them: Ps 106:40-42. He gave them into the hands of their enemies, and suffered them to be severely oppressed by them. We must either conquer all our foes or be conquered by them. Bring your shield from the battle or be brought home upon it.— G.R.
Verse 37. Moloch worship in modern times. Children sacrificed to fashion, wealth, and loveless marriage among the higher classes. Bad example, drinking customs, etc., among the poorer sort. A needful subject.
Verse 44-45. Sin in God's people.
1. Is very provoking to God.
2. Ensures chastisement.
3. Is to be sincerely mourned—"their cry."
4. Will be graciously forgiven, and its effect removed. So the covenant promises.
Verse 47.
1. An earnest Prayer: "Save us, O Lord", etc.
2. A Believing Prayer: "O Lord our God."
3. A humble Prayer: "Gather us from among the heathen."
4. A sincere Prayer: "To give thanks unto thy holy name"; to own thy justice and holiness in all thy ways.
5. A confident Prayer: "To triumph in thy praise." None but bruised spices give forth such odours.— G.R.
Verse 48.
1. God is to be praised as the "God of Israel."
(a) Of typical Israel.
(b) Of the true Israel.
2. He is to be praised as the God of Israel under all circumstances: for his judgments as well as for his mercies.
3. At all times: "From everlasting to everlasting."
4. By all people: "Let all the people say, Amen."
5. As the beginning and end of every song: "Praise ye the Lord."— G.R.
Verse 48. Let all the people say, Amen. The exhortation to universal praise. All men are indebted to the Lord, all have sinned, all hear the gospel, all his people are saved. Unanimity in praise is pleasant, and promotes unity in other matters.