Psalm 106--Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is GooD

Psalm 106
English Standard Version

Give Thanks to the LORD, for He Is Good
106 Praise the LORD!
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD,
    or declare all his praise?
3 Blessed are they who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times!

4 Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people;
    help me when you save them,
5 that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that I may glory with your inheritance.

6 Both we and our fathers have sinned;
    we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
    did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
    but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake,
    that he might make known his mighty power.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
    and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
10 So he saved them from the hand of the foe
    and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
11 And the waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed his words;
    they sang his praise.

13 But they soon forgot his works;
    they did not wait for his counsel.
14 But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
    and put God to the test in the desert;
15 he gave them what they asked,
    but sent a wasting disease among them.

16 When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
    and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD,
17 the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
    and covered the company of Abiram.
18 Fire also broke out in their company;
    the flame burned up the wicked.

19 They made a calf in Horeb
    and worshiped a metal image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God
    for 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,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them--
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
    to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
25 They murmured in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the LORD.
26 Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
    scattering them among the lands.

28 Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
29 they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was stayed.
31 And that was counted to him as righteousness
    from generation to generation forever.

32 They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
    and it went ill with Moses on their account,
33 for they made his spirit bitter,
    and he spoke rashly with his lips.

34 They did not destroy the peoples,
    as the LORD commanded them,
35 but they mixed with the nations
    and learned to do as they did.
36 They served their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons;
38 they poured out 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 became unclean by their acts,
    and played the whore in their deeds.

40 Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
    and he abhorred his heritage;
41 he gave them into the hand of the nations,
    so that those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
    and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
    but they were rebellious in their purposes
    and were brought low through their iniquity.

44 Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
46 He caused them to be pitied
    by all those who held them captive.

47 Save us, O LORD our God,
    and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.

48 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the LORD!

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If your congregation does responsive readings, you're probably familiar with the psalm already, as it is used often as a responsive reading.  This psalm tells us that the wonderous deeds of the LORD prove to us that His steadfast covenant love for His people endures forever.  He proves that love to us through the way in which time after time He has delivered and saved His people.  The psalm then continues to tell us of various times and places when He did that, starting with the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea.  Even though those who were being delivered from slavery were sinners who deserved to die, the LORD delivered them for His Name's sake.  Not only did the LORD deliver them, but He destroyed the superpower of Egypt.  Historians today that try to deny the biblical account wonder why the Egyptians that a superpower suddenly disappeared and were replaced by another people who were called Egyptians but were genetically different.  The Bible explains all this as they lost their firstborn males in the 10th plague, and then most of the rest of the men died as the entire army was drowned in the Red Sea (for the LORD threw horse and rider into the Red Sea), that the nation experienced an "extinction event" where they could no longer have enough males to make a new generation in time, and that great empire quickly disappeared.

While the people sinned and grumbled against the LORD in the desert, the LORD still led them and spoke to Moses and Aaron, providing atonement for the people through the priesthood of Aaron.  However, the LORD did not tolerate open rebellion like that of Dathan and Abiram--He cause the earth to open up and eat them and their camp as a picture of them going down into judgment prepared for all those who rebel against the LORD.

Even with this kind of imagery, the people still made a golden calf at Mount Sinai, and they got involved in idolatry at Peor by worshiping the Baals there and engaging in all kinds of sexual sin.  If it were not for the zeal of Phinehas, the whole camp may have been destroyed by the plague that the LORD sent upon them.

​The people grumbled at the waters of Meribah and tested the LORD, and it went poorly for Moses.  He got angry with the people, but the LORD proved a way to make the bitter water sweet by throwing a tree into it (a picture of the cross of Christ transforming our hearts and taking the "water" full of sin that caused death and exchanging it for the Water of Life that comes only through Jesus).

Many times, He delivered the people, but He still said of that generation that constantly rebelled against Him that they would never enter His rest.  These two are not mutually exclusive.  The LORD can save a people from their physical circumstances time and time again, and they can refuse to be the covenant people of God and die in their sins.  We know a few of them had a right relationship with God, so I don't assume ALL of them died in their sins, but the picture is there for us that the vast majority of that first generation did--even though they experienced all the signs and wonders of the Exodus, they never had a personal relationship with the LORD that led to a transformed heart.

The LORD delivered on His promises for His Name's sake.  It wasn't because His people deserved it, but because He was up to something even greater than saving them from slavery and bringing them into the Land of Canaan.  That was important, but the salvation that would come to all people in all places at all times through the true fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant--Jesus Christ--was even more important.  For the sake of the gospel, God did not completely destroy men in the Flood.  Noah didn't deserve salvation, but God chose him to be Jesus' ancestor.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn't do anything to cause God to choose them, but God elected them to be the patriarchs of a new people called by His name.  Moses did not deserve to be chosen, but God chose Him to lead the people as a picture of Jesus and He was the mediator of what we call the "Old Covenant."  Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant in His own blood.  I could go on and on, but it was because the LORD looked forward to what Jesus would do that He moved heaven to make everything happen according to His perfect plan.

Let us not forget though that the same God that is Savior is also the God who pours out His wrath on the unrepentant who die outside of Christ.  He must punish wickedness, but He has made a way for His Son to be punished in our place.  That is the gospel message.