Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 106:6
We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
6. The main purpose of the Psalm is here stated; the confession of the constant sin of Israel throughout its history. The acknowledgement that the nation does not deserve the mercy for which it prays is the primary condition of forgiveness and restoration to God’s favour. The language is borrowed from Solomon’s prayer (1Ki 8:47); and the accumulation of synonyms expresses the manifold character of Israel’s guilt. Cp. Daniel’s confession (Dan 9:5), and the confession of the Jews in Babylon in Bar 2:12 .
We have sinned with our fathers ] “This remarkable expression is not to be weakened to mean merely that the present generation had sinned like their ancestors, but gives expression to the profound sense of national solidarity, which speaks in many other places of Scripture, and rests on very deep facts in the life of nations and their individual members” (Maclaren). Cp. Lev 26:39-40; Jer 3:25; Jer 14:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
We have sinned with our fathers – We have sinned as they did; we have followed their example. The illustration of the manner in which the nation had sinned occupies a considerable part of the remainder of the psalm; and the idea here is, that, in the generation in which the psalmist lived, there had been the manifestation of the same rebellious spirit which had so remarkably characterized the entire nation. The connection of this with the foregoing verses is not very apparent. It would seem to be that the psalmist was deeply impressed with a sense of the great blessings which follow from the friendship of God, and from keeping his commandments – as stated, Psa 106:3-5; but he remembered that those blessings had not come upon the people as might have been expected, and his mind suddenly adverts to the cause of this, in the fact that the nation had sinned. It was not that God was not disposed to bestow that happiness; it was not that true religion failed to confer happiness; but it was that the nation had provoked God to displeasure, and that in fact the sins of the people had averted the blessings which would otherwise have come upon them. The psalmist, therefore, in emphatic language – repeating the confession in three forms, we have sinned – we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, acknowledges that the failure was in them, not in God. The language here is substantially the same as in Dan 9:5-6, and it would seem not improbable that the one was suggested by the other. Which was prior in the order of time, it is now impossible to determine. Compare the notes at Dan 9:5-6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. We have sinned] Here the confession begins; what preceded was only the introduction to what follows: Our forefathers sinned, and suffered; we, like them, have sinned, and do suffer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With our fathers; as our fathers did, and have not been made wiser or better by their examples, as we should have been.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Compare 1Ki 8:47;Dan 9:5, where the same threeverbs occur in the same order and connection, the original of the twolater passages being the first one, the prayer of Solomon indedicating the temple.
sinned . . . fatherslikethem, and so partaking of their guilt. The terms denote a risinggradation of sinning (compare Ps1:1).
with our fatherswe andthey together forming one mass of corruption.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
We have sinned with our fathers,…. Sinned in their first father Adam; derived a corrupt nature from their immediate ancestors; sinned after the similitude of their transgressions; sinned after their example, in like manner as they did; guilty of the same gross enormities as they were: though sufficiently warned by the words of the prophets, and by punishments inflicted, they continued their sins, a constant series and course of them, and filled up the measure of their iniquities; they rose up in their stead an increase of sinful men, to augment the fierce anger of God, Nu 32:14. And this the psalmist, in the name of the people of Israel, confesses, as it was his and their duty and interest so to do, Le 26:40, and as we find it was usual with Old Testament saints, Jer 3:25.
We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly; this heap of words is used to denote not only the multitude of their sins, but the aggravated circumstances of them; that they had committed all manner of sins, not sins of ignorance, frailty, and infirmity only; but presumptuous sins, sins against light and knowledge, grace and mercy; sins against both tables of the law, against God and their neighbour; and these attended with many aggravations: all which a sensible sinner is ready to make a frank and ingenuous confession of, and forsake; and such an one finds mercy with a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin: this form of confession is followed by Solomon and Daniel, 1Ki 8:47.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The key-note of the vidduj, which is a settled expression since 1Ki 8:47 (Dan 9:5, cf. Bar. 2:12), makes itself heard here in Psa 106:6; Israel is bearing at this time the punishment of its sins, by which it has made itself like its forefathers. In this needy and helpless condition the poet, who all along speaks as a member of the assembly, takes the way of the confession of sin, which leads to the forgiveness of sin and to the removal of the punishment of sin. , 1Ki 8:47, signifies to be, and the Hiph. to prove one’s self to be, a . in Psa 106:6 is equivalent to aeque ac, as in Ecc 2:16; Job 9:26. With Psa 106:7 the retrospect begins. The fathers contended with Moses and Aaron in Egypt (Exo 5:21), and gave no heed to the prospect of redemption (Exo 6:9). The miraculous judgments which Moses executed (Exo 3:20) had no more effect in bringing them to a right state of mind, and the abundant tokens of loving-kindness (Isa 63:7) amidst which God redeemed them made so little impression on their memories that they began to despair and to murmur even at the Red Sea (Exo 14:11.). With , Psa 106:7, alternates (as in Eze 10:15, ); cf. the alternation of prepositions in Joe 3:8. When they behaved thus, Jahve might have left their redemption unaccomplished, but out of unmerited mercy He nevertheless redeemed them. Psa 106:8-11 are closely dependent upon Ex. 14. Psa 106:11 is a transposition (cf. Psa 34:21; Isa 34:16) from Exo 14:28. On the other hand, Psa 106:9 is taken out of Isa 63:13 (cf. Wisd. 19:9); Isa. 63:7-64:12 is a prayer for redemption which has a similar ground-colouring. The sea through which they passed is called, as in the Tra, , which seems, according to Exo 2:3; Isa 19:3, to signify the sea of reed or sedge, although the sedge does not grow in the Red Sea itself, but only on the marshy places of the coast; but it can also signify the sea of sea-weed, mare algosum , after the Egyptian sippe , wool and sea-weed (just as Arab. suf also signifies both these). The word is certainly Egyptian, whether it is to be referred back to the Egyptian word sippe (sea-weed) or seebe (sedge), and is therefore used after the manner of a proper name; so that the inference drawn by Knobel on Exo 8:18 from the absence of the article, that is the name of a town on the northern point of the gulf, is groundless. The miracle at the sea of sedge or sea-weed – as Psa 106:12 says – also was not without effect. Exo 14:31 tells us that they believed on Jahve and Moses His servant, and the song which they sang follows in Ex. 15. But they then only too quickly added sins of ingratitude.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Sins of Israelites. | |
6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. 8 Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. 9 He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11 And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. 12 Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.
Here begins a penitential confession of sin, which was in a special manner seasonable now that the church was in distress; for thus we must justify God in all that he brings upon us, acknowledging that therefore he has done right, because we have done wickedly; and the remembrance of former sins, notwithstanding which God did not cast off his people, is an encouragement to us to hope that, though we are justly corrected for our sins, yet we shall not be utterly abandoned.
I. God’s afflicted people here own themselves guilty before God (v. 6): “We have sinned with our fathers, that is, like our fathers, after the similitude of their transgression. We have added to the stock of hereditary guilt, and filled up the measure of our fathers’ iniquity, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord,” Num 32:14; Mat 23:32. And see how they lay a load upon themselves, as becomes penitents: “We have committed iniquity, that which is in its own nature sinful, and we have done wickedly; we have sinned with a high hand presumptuously.” Or this is a confession, not only of their imitation of, but their interest in, their fathers’ sins: We have sinned with our fathers, for we were in their loins and we bear their iniquity, Lam. v. 7.
II. They bewail the sins of their fathers when they were first formed into a people, which, since children often smart for, they are concerned to sorrow for, even further than to the third and fourth generation. Even we now ought to take occasion from the history of Israel’s rebellions to lament the depravity and perverseness of man’s nature and its unaptness to be amended by the most probable means. Observe here,
1. The strange stupidity of Israel in the midst of the favours God bestowed upon them (v. 7): They understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They saw them, but they did not rightly apprehend the meaning and design of them. Blessed are those that have not seen, and yet have understood. They thought the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance, whereas they were intended also for their instruction and conviction, not only to force them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel, above all gods, and his particular concern for them. We lose the benefit of providences for want of understanding them. And, as their understandings were dull, so their memories were treacherous; though one would think such astonishing events should never have been forgotten, yet they remembered them not, at least they remembered not the multitude of God’s mercies in them. Therefore God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered.
2. Their perverseness arising from this stupidity: They provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. The provocation was, despair of deliverance (because the danger was great) and wishing they had been left in Egypt still, Exo 14:11; Exo 14:12. Quarrelling with God’s providence, and questioning his power, goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to him as any whatsoever. The place aggravated the crime; it was at the sea, at the Red Sea, when they had newly come out of Egypt and the wonders God had wrought for them were fresh in their minds; yet they reproach him, as if all that power had no mercy in it, but he had brought them out of Egypt on purpose to kill them in the wilderness. They never lay at God’s mercy so immediately as in their passage through the Red Sea, yet there they affront it, and provoke his wrath.
3. The great salvation God wrought for them notwithstanding their provocations, v. 8-11. (1.) He forced a passage for them through the sea: He rebuked the Red Sea for standing in their way and retarding their march, and it was dried up immediately; as, in the creation, at God’s rebuke the waters fled, Ps. civ. 7. Nay, he not only prepared them a way, but, by the pillar of cloud and fire, he led them into the sea, and, by the conduct of Moses, led them through it as readily as through the wilderness. He encouraged them to take those steps, and subdued their fears, when those were their most dangerous and threatening enemies. See Isa. lxiii. 12-14. (2.) He interposed between them and their pursuers, and prevented them from cutting them off, as they designed. The Israelites were all on foot, and the Egyptians had all of them chariots and horses, with which they were likely to overtake them quickly, but God saved them from the hand of him that hated them, namely, Pharaoh, who never loved them, but now hated them the more for the plagues he had suffered on their account. From the hand of his enemy, who was just ready to seize them, God redeemed them (v. 10), interposing himself, as it were, in the pillar of fire, between the persecuted and the persecutors. (3.) To complete the mercy, and turn the deliverance into a victory, the Red Sea, which was a lane to them, was a grave to the Egyptians (v. 11): The waters covered their enemies, so as to slay them, but not so as to conceal their shame; for, the next tide, they were thrown up dead upon the shore, Exod. xiv. 30. There was not one of them left alive, to bring tidings of what had become of the rest. And why did God do this for them? Nay, why did he not cover them, as he did their enemies, for their unbelief and murmuring? He tells us (v. 8): it was for his name’s sake. Though they did not deserve this favour, he designed it; and their undeservings should not alter his designs, nor break his measures, nor make him withdraw his promise, or fail in the performance of it. He did this for his own glory, that he might make his mighty power to be known, not only in dividing the sea, but in doing it notwithstanding their provocations. Moses prays (Num 14:17; Num 14:19), Let the power of my Lord be great and pardon the iniquity of this people. The power of the God of grace in pardoning sin and sparing sinners is as much to be admired as the power of the God of nature in dividing the waters.
4. The good impression this made upon them for the present (v. 12): Then believed they his words, and acknowledged that God was with them of a truth, and had, in mercy to them, brought them out of Egypt, and not with any design to slay them in the wilderness; then they feared the Lord and his servant Moses, Exod. xiv. 31. Then they sang his praise, in that song of Moses penned on this great occasion, Exod. xv. 1. See in what a gracious and merciful way God sometimes silences the unbelief of his people, and turns their fears into praises; and so it is written, Those that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those that murmured shall learn doctrine, Isa. xxix. 24.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Sins of Forgetfulness
This section of Psalms 106 relates Israel’s sins of lust, envying, murmuring, forgetfulness, and disobedience.
Verse 6 Is a confession that all Israel and their fathers before them had sinned, committed Iniquities, repeatedly doing wickedly, as described Lev 26:40; 1Ki 8:47; Dan 9:5. These three strong verbs all appear in the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple, as cited above: In order, they come from the Hebrew (chata, aven, and reshang) Psa 1:1. See also Num 21:7; Job 14:17.
Verses 7, 8 declare that their fathers: 1) understood not His wonders in Egypt; 2) remembered not the multitude of His mercies; but, 3) provoked Him at the Red sea, Deu 32:8; Isa 1:3; Exo 4:1; Deu 4:9; Num 14:11; Exo 14:11; Isa 3:8.
Verse 8 adds that in spite of their dullness, ingratitude, and provocations toward Him, He saved them for His name’s sake (His integrity or honor), that He might make His mighty power to be known, Gen 18:26; 1Ch 29:12; Exo 6:7.
Verses 9, 10 describe how He rebuked the Red sea, suspending the laws of gravity, causing the sea to dry up, as He led them Through dry shod, even Through the wilderness, saving (delivering them safely) from the hand (destruction) of their Egyptian enemy oppressors who hated them, Job 26:10; Exo 14:16; Deu 8:2; Psa 27:1; Exo 14:30.
Verses 11, 12 assert that “the waters covered their enemies (collapsed on them)” so that there was not one of them left, who escaped alive, Exo 14:28; Isa 34:2. At this point it is declared “they believed his words, they sang his praise,” His song of victory, triumph, as the mighty, Jehovah God over all, Exo 14:31; Exo 15:1; Luk 17:5; 1Jn 5:4.
Verses 13-15 add that: 1) “they soon forgot his works,” hastily forgot it, with ingratitude they brushed them aside, Exo 32:8; Deu 11:3-4; Deuteronomy 2) They did not wait for His counsel, His own plan for their deliverance; 3) They lusted exceedingly, very covetously in the wilderness, that brought many death judgments upon them, at Kibroth-Hattaavah, which means “the graves of lust,” caused by their lusting, Num 11:4; Num 11:34; Psa 78:18; Psalms , 4) They tempted God by such conduct repeatedly in the wilderness, bringing heavy judgment. Verse 15 concludes that “He gave them the object of their craving lusts that resulted in leanness he sent to their souls,” meaning sickness and death that came upon them, as an inflicted punishment for their crying lusts, Isaiah 10; Isaiah 16; Psa 78:29-30; Num 11:6; Psa 107:18.
Verses 16-18 add further that there arose envy in the camp of Israel against Moses and Aaron, the saints of the Lord, God’s consecrated servants; This envy and sedition, led by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, consisted also of 250 famous princes of Israel’s assembly who gathered in collusion against Moses and Aaron, Num 16:3; so that “The earth opened and swallowed Dathan and covered the company of Abiram,” Num 16:41; Exo 28:3; Num 16:5; Num 16:7; Num 16:37; Note: Dathan and Abiram and their Reubenite followers were non-Levitical rebels that were swallowed up by death In the earth, Num 26:10; Deu 11:6; Num 16:32-33. Korah and the 250 Levitical rebels were, however, punished by fire that burned up the wicked, even as they had sinned presumptuously .by fire in offering incense; much as Aaron’s sons had sinned by offering strange fire that caused them to be consumed by fire, Num 16:35; Num 26:10; Lev 10:1-2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6 We have sinned with our fathers It is quite plain from these words, that although the prophet may have spoken in the person of one man, he yet dictates a form of prayer for the common use of the whole Church, seeing that he now identifies himself with the whole body. And from this to the end of the psalm, he gleans from ancient histories that their fathers had always been of a malign and perverse spirit, of corrupt practice, rebellious, ungrateful and perfidious towards God; and confesses that their descendants were not better; and having made this confession, (242) they come and ask the remission of their sins. And as we are unable to obtain the pardon of our sins until we have first confessed ourselves to be guilty of sin, and as our hardness of heart shuts out the grace of God from us, the prophet, therefore, with great propriety, humbly acknowledges the guilt of the people in this their severe and sore chastisement, and that God might justly inflict upon them a yet harder punishment. On another account it was advantageous for the Jews to have their sins set before them; because, if God punish us severely, we at once suppose that his promises have failed. But when, on the contrary, we are reminded that we are receiving the reward due to us for our transgressions, then if we thoroughly repent, those promises in which God appears as pacified towards us will come to our aid. Besides, by the three expressions which he employs in reference to their transgressions, he points out their enormity, that (as is usually the case) their hearts might not be slightly affected, but deeply wounded with sorrow. For we know how men are fettered by their vices, and how ready to let themselves alone, until compelled to examine themselves in good earnest; nay, what is more, when God calls them to judgment, they make a kind of verbal confession of their iniquities, while, at the same time, hypocrisy blinds their minds. When, therefore, the prophet says, that the people acted iniquitously in sinning, and had become ungodly and wicked, he employs no useless or unnecessary accumulation of words. Let any of us examine ourselves, and we will easily find that we have equal need to be constrained to make an ingenuous confession of our sins; for though we dare not say that we have no sin, yet there is not one of us but is disposed to find a cloak and subterfuge for his sin.
In a very similar manner, Daniel, in the ninth chapter of his prophecies, acknowledges the guilt of his own iniquities and those of the people; and it may be that the author of this psalm followed his example. From both let us learn, that the only way of pleasing God is to institute a rigid course of self-examination. Let it also be carefully observed, that the holy prophets, who never departed from the fear and worship of God, uniformly confessed their own guilt in common with the people; and this they did, not out of feigned humility, but because they were aware that they themselves were tainted with manifold corruptions, for when iniquity abounds, it is almost impossible for even the best of men to keep themselves from being infected by its baneful effects. Not comparing themselves with others, but sisting themselves before God’s tribunal, they at once perceive the impossibility of making their escape.
At that time impiety had attained to such a degree of enormity among the Jews, that it is not astonishing if even the best and most upright men were carried away, as if by the violence of a tempest. How very abominable, then, is the pride of those who hardly imagine that they offend in the least possible way; nay, who even, like certain fanatics of the day, conceive that they have attained to a state of sinless perfection! It must be borne in mind, however, that Daniel, who carefully kept himself under the fear of God, and whom the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, declares to be one of the most upright of men, did not with reigned lips acknowledge his own transgressions, and those of the people, when he confessed them, under a deep sense of their grievously and dreadfully abhorrent character in the eyes of God. True, indeed, he was not overwhelmed in the same torrent of iniquity with others; but he knew that he had contracted a very large amount of guilt. Besides, the prophet does not bring forward their fathers for the purpose of palliating his own delinquency, (as many at the present day set at nought all reproof, shielding themselves with this, namely, that they have been so taught by their fathers, and that, therefore, their bad education, and not they, is at fault,) but rather to show that he and those of his own nation were obnoxious to severe punishment, because even from the very first, and as if co-existent with their early infancy, they never ceased to provoke the displeasure of God against themselves more and more by their fresh transgressions. It is in this manner that he involves the fathers with the children in many of the grounds of condemnation. (243)
(242) “ Ils vienent a demander pardon de leurs pechez.” — Fr.
(243) “ En beaucoup d’articles de condemnation.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) We.Regard must be paid to the fact that the confession includes the speaker and his generation, as well as the ancestors of the race. The psalm proceeds from the period of the Captivity, when the national conscience, or at all events that of the nobler part of the nation, was thoroughly alive to the sinfulness of idolatry.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. We have sinned From this to Psa 106:43 the strain of confession is unbroken and unrestrained.
With our fathers He does not palliate his own sin, nor that of his generation, by confessing that of his ancestors, but aggravates it, because they profited nothing by experience. And these old sins are now brought up to illustrate the forbearance and forgiving mercy of God, (Psa 106:44-46,) as a ground of present hope.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Here comes in the acknowledgment of Israel’s guilt. Was there ever such an history as Israel’s, for proofs of divine love? Was there ever such an history as Israel’s, for ingratitude and rebellion? Reader! look inward. What hath been manifested to you, and me, of God’s love and mercy in Christ? And what hath been our improvement of this grace? Pause, and then say, is there not but too striking a resemblance? There is a vast deal of expression in these words of Israel’s provoking the Lord at the sea, even at the Red sea. For there it was the Lord most graciously manifested his love to his people, and his care over them. For when the mountains were on each side, the enemy pursuing behind, and the sea before them, with no probable way of escape; then for the Lord to open a path through the mighty waters, and not only to make a way for their escape, but to make it the very way of destruction to their enemies; oh! what love was shown here. And was it here that Israel afterwards provoked the Lord? Reader! is there nothing in this which suits our case? Look again. When mountains of sin and guilt stood in the way of my soul, ready to fall upon me on every side, and no method in myself of deliverance, the enemy marching on to my destruction behind, and terrors of death before; was it not then that the Lord opened a new and living way, in the red sea of Christ’s blood, for my escape? And have I not since caused the gracious hand to serve with my sins, and wearied him with my iniquities? Heb 10:19-21 ; Isa 43:24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 106:6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
Ver. 6. We have sinned with our fathers ] Adding to their heap, and making up their measure, Mat 23:32 . People think the example of their fathers a sufficient excuse. Jerome once (but not well) desired leave of Austin to err with seven Fathers whom he found of his opinion. I will follow my forefathers, saith Cicero, although I fall together with them. See Jer 44:17 . But so would not these good souls, as neither Jeremiah, Jer 3:25 , nor Daniel, Dan 9:5 , whose confession suiting and symbolizing with this (together with that we read Psa 106:47 ), maketh some think that this psalm was penned for his people’s use then when they were captives in Babylon.
We have committed iniquity, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 106:6-12
6We have sinned like our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
7Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
9Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
10So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
Psa 106:6-12 This strophe focuses on the Exodus.
1. the current people of God (Psa 106:6)
a. they sinned like their fathers (perfect)
b. they committed iniquity (perfect)
c. they behaved wickedly (perfect)
2. our fathers (Psa 106:7, cf. Lev 26:40; Neh 9:32-34; Jer 3:25; Dan 9:8; Dan 9:16)
a. did not understand Your wonders
b. did not remember Your abundant kindnesses (cf. Jdg 8:34; Neh 9:17; Psa 78:42)
c. rebelled by the sea
3. never-the-less YHWH still acted (Psa 106:8-11) on their behalf
a. He saved them
b. He made His power known (i.e., revealed His character in His acts, cf. Psa 98:2; Psa 103:7)
c. He rebuked the Red Sea (for this unusual verb see Psa 104:7)
d. He led them through
e. He saved them
f. He redeemed them
4. after all of YHWH’s acts they did believe (cf. Exo 14:31; see Special Topic: Believe, Trust, Faith and Faithfulness in the OT ) and praised Him (Psa 106:12)
Some scholars see this verse as denoting a national confession of sin during a feast day at the temple. The plea for forgiveness is in Psa 106:47 and the confidence in YHWH’s grace is in Psa 106:48.
Psa 106:7 at the sea There seems to be a repetition in the MT. Many modern translations (NRSV, NJB, NAB) take the consonants from at the sea and combine them into a name for YHWH (cf. Psa 78:17; Psa 78:56; Dan 7:18; Dan 7:22; Dan 7:25) to get one title for God.
1. Most High – NRSV, NJB, NAB
2. Almighty – TEV
the red sea See Special Topic: Red Sea
Psa 106:8 This verse focuses on the larger redemptive purpose of YHWH in the Exodus (see Special Topic: YHWH’s Eternal Redemptive Plan). He wanted the nations
1. to fear Israel
2. to know Him
The problem is that Israel never fully kept the covenant (cf. Psa 106:6-7). The nations received a distorted revelation (cf. Eze 36:22-23), so YHWH needed to develop a new way (i.e., a new covenant, cf. Jer 31:32-34) to reach them. He revealed Himself (cf. Eze 36:23-32).
Psa 106:10 redeemed See Special Topic: Ransom/Redeem .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
sinned. Hebrew. chata’. App-44. Note the three iniquity. Hebrew. ‘avah. App-44. classes of ill-doing.
we have. Some codices, with one early printed edition, read “and have”.
wickedly = lawlessly. Hebrew. rasha’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 106:6-12
Psa 106:6-12
SIN NO. 1
“We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt;
They remembered not the multitude of thy lovingkindnesses,
But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake,
That he might make his mighty power to be known.
He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up:
So he led them through the depths, as through a wilderness.
And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters covered their adversaries;
There was not one of them left.
Then believed they his words;
They sang his praise.”
“We have sinned with our fathers” (Psa 106:6). The long and sinful record of Israel was invariable. After the sins of their forefathers, the people still walked in rebellion against God. The several synonyms for “evil” in this verse are to emphasis its abhorrence in God’s sight.
“Rebellious even at the Red Sea” (Psa 106:7). Delitzsch thought “Red Sea” here to be a reference, “To the sea of reed or sedge. This was a popular error during the first half of the 20th century; and James Moffatt, contrary to all reason, translated “Red Sea” in the Exodus Crossing as “Reed Sea.” However, when he found the same words over in the passage where it is related that “Solomon launched his navy,” he went back to an honest rendition of what the word has always meant, namely, an arm of the Indian Ocean.
The words here, “[~Yam] [~Cuwp]” mean “The Sea of the End,” the designation of the Indian Ocean in the era around the middle of the Second Millennium B.C., indicating at once the antiquity of Exodus, and the authenticity of “Red Sea” as an acceptable rendition of the term.
The rebelliousness of Israel at the Red Sea consisted of their, “Murmuring, having forgotten all that God did in Egypt, complaining that God had brought them out of Egypt to destroy them.
“He led them through the depths, as through a wilderness” (Psa 106:9). The last phrase here, from the marginal reference, reads, “as through pastureland.” The RSV renders it, “as through a desert.” “Through the depths,” therefore, means “where the deep waters had been.
“Then believed they his words; They sang his praise” (Psa 106:12). Israel’s fleeting faith mentioned here, was no permanent thing at all; the first little inconvenience they suffered stirred up again their murmuring unbelief.
E.M. Zerr
Psa 106:6. The Psalmist was consistent in classing himself with the people in general. He had asked only for the kind of favors that the people received. Now he places himself on a level with them regarding the mistakes of life.
Psa 106:7. A glance at the history in the book of Exodus will tell us why David wrote this verse. Understood not means the fathers did not consider all the wonderful works of God. They seemed to “take them for granted,” and thus they underestimated their importance. This lack of appreciation led them to act foolishly and provoke the Lord who was being so good to them in spite of their indifference.
Psa 106:8. Their disobedience did not cause God to desert them. His own name was at stake and he took care of them, thus showing to the nations near them that He was more powerful than all their gods to which they gave such frantic devotion.
Psa 106:9. When an inanimate object like a sea is rebuked it means that it was taken charge of by One who was able to control it. This rebuke was in the form of a “strong east wind,” and the original account of it is given in Exo 14:21.
Psa 106:10. This verse is a brief reference to the thing accomplished by the act in opening the Red Sea for the Israelites, then closing it upon the Egyptians.
Psa 106:11. This language is very definite. Sometimes a statement may be made about the fate of a group. If the thing said to be done affected the group as a whole, the language will be worded in a general way even if some individual exceptions existed. But in this case we are to understand there were no exceptions. Not one of them was permitted to escape. Exo 14:6 states that Pharaoh took his people “with him.” So we know that the king of Egypt perished in the Red Sea together with his people.
Psa 106:12. The pronouns they stand for the Israelites. They believed his words then; which means just as they got across the Red Sea. Sang his praise refers to the “song of deliverance” which is recorded in Exodus 15.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Psa 78:8, Lev 26:40, Num 32:14, 1Ki 8:47, Ezr 9:6, Ezr 9:7, Neh 9:16, Neh 9:32-34, Dan 9:5-8, Mat 23:32, Act 7:51, Act 7:52
Reciprocal: Jos 7:9 – what wilt thou 1Sa 7:6 – We have sinned 2Ki 22:13 – because our fathers 2Ch 6:37 – We have sinned Neh 1:6 – both I Neh 1:7 – dealt Neh 9:2 – confessed Neh 9:33 – but we Isa 43:27 – first father Isa 65:7 – Your iniquities Jer 14:20 – We acknowledge Jer 22:21 – This Jer 32:30 – children Jer 44:17 – our fathers Eze 23:43 – old Dan 9:16 – for the Zec 1:4 – as Luk 18:13 – a sinner
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 106:6-7. We have sinned with our fathers That is, as our fathers did, and have not been made wiser or better by their examples, as we ought to have been. Our fathers understood not Or, considered not; thy wonders in Egypt Namely, so as to be rightly affected with them, and to receive from them the instruction they were intended to convey. They saw them, but they did not rightly apprehend the design of them; they thought, indeed, that the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance; but they did not consider that they were intended also for their conviction and reformation; not only to rescue them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel above all gods, and his particular concern for them. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies As their understandings were dull, so their memories were treacherous; though one would have thought such astonishing events should never have been forgotten or disregarded, yet they remembered them not so as to make a right use of them, and yield unto God that love, and praise, and obedience, and to put that trust in him, which such wonders deserved and required. But provoked him even at the Red sea When those wonders of his power and goodness, performed in Egypt, had been newly done, and ought to have been fresh in their minds. The provocation here referred to, was their despair of deliverance, because the danger was great, and wishing they had been left in Egypt still, Exo 14:11-12. Observe well, reader, quarrelling with Gods providence, and calling in question his power, goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to him as almost any whatsoever.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
106:6 We have {d} sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
(d) By earnest confession of their sins and of their father’s, they show that they hoped that God according to his promise would pity them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The record of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God 106:6-46
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The psalmist confessed that Israel had been unfaithful to God. This was true of his generation as it had been true of former generations. This confession introduced a review of specific iniquities and wickedness.