Psalms 105

Though this Psalm hath no title, yet we are assured by what we read in 1 Chron. xvi. 8, &c. that the first part of it, at least, (to the end of ver. 15.) was made by David; and delivered by him to Asaph and his brethren, for the constant service of God in the tabernacle: when, after several victories over the Philistines, (1 Chron. xiv.) he had settled the ark of God in Zion. And it is most probable that he afterward enlarged this Psalm, (for who else would adventure to do it?) thatifcmighthe a more complete commemoration of all the mercies of God, towards their nation, from the days of Abraham to their taking possession of the land of Canaan. Into which he shews their glorious Lord conducted them by so many miraculous providences, in several ages (according to his faithful promise made to Abraham, his faithful servant), that it deserved their most hearty acknowledgments: to which he excites them, by ten several expressions, in the five first verses of the Psalm. To which the Greeks prefix a Hallelujah (for they take the last word of the foregoing Psalnr, and set it on the head of this), as a note how much they were obliged to praise the Lord, according to that exhortation; when they remembered in this Psalm the benefits that he had bestowed upon their forefathers: which were sufficient to excite and whet their minds to the imitation of their virtue. And it may serve to admonish the new people of God (as Theodoret speaks),*that is, as Christians, how much we ought to rejoice in God’s goodness to us; and how dangerous it is to be ungrateful to him; which provoked him to deprive the Jews of that fatherly care which he had taken of their ancestors. tually performs, in all ages, what he hath promised in his covenant. in the land of Ham.’] And he disputing their commission (and refusing to let Israel go), they proved it,, and persuaded him to obey it, by many miraculous works: which God commanded them to do, as tokens that he had sent them.

Psalms 105:1

\J GIVE thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Stir up yourselves, all ye that are here assembled, to make your most. grateful acknowledgments unto the great Lord, who is pleased to come and dwell among you: never approach his presence to make your petitions to him, but join his praises together with them; and proclaim to all the people round about, what great things he hath done for you and for your forefathers.

Psalms 105:2

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all his wondrous works. Sing his praise with a cheerful voice, and with all the instruments of music: arid let the subject of your hymns, and of your ordinary discourse, be his many maryellous acts, of which let not one be forgotten.

Psalms 105:3

Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. For nothing can be so great an honour to you, as that you are servants of such a mighty Lord; who infinitely transcends all other beings: triumph, therefore, and make your boast of this, as a greater happiness than all worldly goods; let it fill the hearts of all his faithful worshippers with the highest joy and gladness.

Psalms 105:4

Seek the Lord, and his strength;’ seek’his face evermore. Let it encourage them to address themselves unto him upon all occasions; and, prostrating themselves before the ark of his presence, (2 Chron. vi. 41.) commend themselves to his powerful protection: let them unweariedly seek his favour, and implore his gracious assistance.

Psalms 105:5

Remember his marvellous works that hehath done; his ivonders, and the judgments of his mouth. Which yon may, with the greater confidence, expect, if you call to mind, and thankfully commemorate, the marvellous things he hath done for your deliverance; and his terrible executions, (Exod. iii. 20.) according to his just sentence passed (Exod. vii. 4.) upon your enemies.

Psalms 105:6

O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. The benefit of which you still enjoy, O ye who are the posterity of his servant Abraham (whose faith and obedience you ought to imitate); the children of Jacob, whom he chose (rejecting Esau) to inherit the promised blessing.

Psalms 105:7

He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He is still the same mighty Lord, and our most gracious God; who continues to execute his judgments every where upon our enemies, (2 Sam. v. 7. 10. 17, &c.) and therefore let us never cease to praise him, and cheer-’ fully serve him, and faithfully depend upon him.

Psalms 105:8

He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. For he is never unmindful of his engagements to us; but punc- 2C

Psalms 105:9

Which covenant he made with Abraham; and his oath taito Isaac. Which he first solemnly made, (Gen. xv. 17, 18.) and then sware (xxii. 16.) unto Abraham: and renewed with his son Isaac; to whom he promised to perform that oath, which he sware unto Abraham, Gen. xxvi. 3. Ver. 10; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.] And again confirmed it to Jacob, both when he went to Haran, (Gen. xxviii. 13, &c.) and, at his return, when he changed his name into Israel; (xxxv. 10, &c.) and, at last, passed it into a law, in that covenant which he made with their posterity, (Exod. xxiii. 22, 23. 31> 32.) never to be altered, if they keep their covenant with him.

Psalms 105:11

Saying, Unto thee trill I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. The sum of which was this; I bestow upon thee, and will bring thee into that good land, the land of Canaan: which, according to this faithful covenant, you now possess; as by lot it was distributed to your several tribes, for their inheritance, (Josh. xiv. 1, 2.).

Psalms 105:12

Wlien they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it. This covenant he began to make with your forefathers (and shewed his intention to perform it, by his singular care over them), when their family was very small, (Gen. xii. 1. 5.) and consequently so weak, that they might easily have been destroyed in the land where they were strangers, (xxiii. 4.) and, had no friends nor allies to support them:

Psalms 105:13

Wlien they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. Nor any settled habitation;.but were forced to wander to and fro, from one part of Canaan into another, (Gen. xii. 6. 8, 9.) and then to sojourn in otherkingdoms; sometimes in Egypt, (ver. 10.) sometimes in Gerar, (xx. 1. xxvi. 1.) and sometimes in the eastern country from whence they came, (xxix. 1.)'.

Psalms 105:14

He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes. And wheresoever they sojourned, he took them into his protection, and sutFered no man to do them any injury, (Gen. xxxi. 24. 42.) but gave severe checks even to the king of Egypt, (xii. 16.) and the king of Gerar, (xx. 3, &c.) to prevent the mischief which they were designing to them.

Psalms 105:15

Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. For he told them, these were sacred persons, whom he designed to make greater men than themselves, and therefore charged them not to hurt them; but to honour them, not merely as princes, (Gen. xxiii. G.) but as prophets, (xx. 7.) by whose prayers they should re-’ ceive great blessings if they were kind to them.

Psalms 105:16

Moreover, he called for afaminenpon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread. And when, in the days of Jacob, he punished the land of Canaan, as well as other countries, with such a dearth, (Gen. xii. 54, &c.) that the earth brought forth no kind of grain for the support of human life:

Psalms 105:17

He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who teas sold for a servant. He took a special care, in a most wonderful way, to, provide both for him and for his family; •for Joseph (whom his brethren first conspired to destroy, but afterward were diverted from their purpose, and only sold for a slave) was brought into Egypt, by the secret counsel of God, (Gen. xiv. 5. 7, &c.) to be the instrument* of their preservation.

Psalms 105:18

IVJiose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron. He was oppressed, indeed, for a long time by a most ^grievous calumny: which was a sorer affliction to him, than the chains and fetters that were, at first, laid upon him in prison.

Psalms 105:19

Until the time that his ivord came: the toord of the Lord tried him. Till mention at* last was made of him to Pharaoh, by one of his officers: who related how exactly Joseph predicted what had befallen him and another of his fellow-servants; as if he wero a man inspired, (Gen. xl. 21, 22. xii. 12, 13.)

Psalms 105:20

Hie king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free. Whereupon the king presently sent for him; (Gen. xii. 14.) that great prince, whose dominion extended over many provinces, and commanded him to be set at liberty. Ver. -21. He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance.] And received such satisfaction from him about his dream, which none of his wise men could interpret, that he not only wholly discharged him from his imprisonment, but made him the chief officer in the court: and, under himself, the supreme governor of his whole kingdom, (Gen. xii. 40, 41.)

Psalms 105:22

To bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his senators wisdom. Yea,* entrusted him with an absolute power, to command all the rulers of his several provinces, what he pleased; and to punish their disobedience according to his discretion: the most ancient and wisest counsellors in the realm were]ordered to repair to him, and to do nothing without his instructions, (Gen. xii. 44.)

Psalms 105:23

Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. By which great authority he procured not only the leave, but the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. xiv. 16, 17, &c.) to his father, to come and bring all his family with him into Egypt; and accordingly he came and dwelt in the best part of all the country, (xlvi.

Psalms 105:24

And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies. Where, according to his •promise, when he bade Jacob accept that invitation, (Gen. xlvi. 3, 4.) the Lord multiplied them exceedingly, (Exod. i. 7.) and made them mightier than the Egyptians, (ver. 9.) •who, of friends, were now become their enemies.

Psalms 105:25

He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtly with his servants. PW the kinder God was to the Israelites, and the more he increased their numbers, the greater jealousy it begat in the heart of the Egyptians: •which turned at last into an absolute hatred of them; and •provoked their malice to invent the crudest ways, first to diminish, (Exod. i. 10, 11, &c.) and then to destroy them, (ver. 15, 16.)

Psalms 105:26

He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. This moved the Divine compassion, when he saw their oppression grew intolerable; to give commission to Moses, whom he had in an extraordinary manner preserved from perishing, (Exod. iii. 13.) and to Aaron, whom he chose to be his assistant, (iv. 15.) to go and demand their liberty of Pharaoh, (iv. 23. v. 1.) •

Psalms 105:27

Tliey shewed his signs among them, andtconders

Psalms 105:28

He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word. Among which the pitchy darkness, which overspread the whole land three days (except only where the Israelites dwelt), was a very remarkable punishment of Pharaoh’s blindness: who would not see the hand of God in all those other plagues, which Moses and Aaron, not fearing his displeasure, but pursuing their orders, had inflicted on him.

Psalms 105:29

He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. As, first of all, the Lord commanded them to stretch their hand upon all the waters of Egypt; which he turned into blood: and made them so putrid,’ that the fish which was in the river died, (Exod. vii. 20, 21.)

Psalms 105:30

Their land.brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kiiigs. And, at the next stroke; produced such a vast number of frogs out of the stinking waters and mud, that not only the whole earth was covered with them, but no house, no room in their houses, no, not the cabinets of their king and his princes, were free from their annoyance, (Exod. viii. 3 — 6.)

Psalms 105:31

He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. And then followed an infinite swarm of the most pestilent sort of flies, (see Psal. lxxviii. 45.) after a troublesome and filthy plague of lice, which had infested all the country, (Exod. viii. 17. 24.)

Psalms 105:32

He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in tlteir land. Which was succeeded (after a murrain upon their cattle, and a fiery ulcer on their own bodies) by a dreadful storm of hail (when fruitful showers of rain were most desirable), together with such lightning, as was never seen: for it ran upon the ground, and burnt up all that was not destroyed by the hail, (Exod. ix. 23, 24, &c.) •

Psalms 105:33

He smote their vines also and their fig-trees, and brake the trees of their coasts.* Which not only struck down the grapes and the figs; but shattered the vines and fig-trees themselves; together with many other fruit-trees in the land.

Psalms 105:34

He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number. And whatsoever escaped this tempestuous storm, (for some things were not then grown up, Exod. ix. 31.) was, not long after, devoured by an innumerable army of various sorts of locusts, (Exod. x. 4. 12, &c.)

Psalms 105:35

And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground. Which, by his command, came and covered the whole face of the country, eating np the very leaves of the trees, as well as all the grass and herbs upon the ground, (Exod. x. 15.) Ver. 3G. He smote also all the first-born in their land, the chief of all their strength.] And, at last, he finished these plagues in the slaughter of all their first-born, both of man and beast: the angel of the Lord killing, in one and the same night, (Exod. xii. 29.) the principal prop of every family: and the best of all their flocks and their herds.

Psalms 105:37

He brought them forth also with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble person among their tribes. Which terrible destruction so affrighted them, that they not only let Israel go, but were forward to thrust them out of Egypt, and that loaded with silver and gold: (Exod. xii. 31 — 35.) and, which is very wonderful among so many thousand persons, (ver. 37.) there was not one, at that time, so feeble, as to be unable to travel.

Psalms 105:38

Egypt was glad when they departed; for the fear of them fell upon theml. And great was the joy at their departure; not only among the Israelites, but among the Egyptians: who thought themselves not safe till the Israelites had their liberty; but were in dread of another plague, which they thought might kill them, as the former had done their children, (Exod. xii. 33.)

Psalms 105:39

He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. Nor did the Divine Providence desert our fathers after it had brought them out of Egypt; but, lest they should suffer any prejudice by the exceeding great heats, or mistake. their way in a desolate wilderness; he defended them in the day from the scorching rays of the suuby a cloud: which itself gave them light to comfort, and (if need were) to guide them in the night, (Exod. xiii.

Psalms 105:40

Tlie people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He provided also a delicate food for that vast multitude; even when they were so ungrateful as to murmur against him: (Exod. xvi. 12, &c.) sending them, in the evening, such flights of quails, and in the morning such showers of corn out of the clouds, as abundantly satisfied every one of them.‘Ver. 41. He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.] And when they murmured again for want of drink, (Exod. xvii. 2 — 6.) he was so kind as to stop their complaints, by making water to. spring out of a rock: from whence it gushed so constantly, and in such abundance, that it made a stream; which followed theni in all the parched grounds through which they marched.

Psalms 105:42

For he remembered his holy promise and Abraham his servant.* For the Lord was resolved punctually to perform his promise, passed in former ages, (Gen. xv. 18. Exod. ii. 24.) which made him reward the fidelity of his servant Abraham; even upon his incredulous posterity; at that very time which he had prefixed for it, (Gen. xv. 13. Exod. xii. 41.)

Psalms 105:43

And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness. When, with much mirth and joy, he brought his people out of the Egyptian bondage; and made them shout to see the difference he made between them and the Egyptians; who were drowned in the Red Sea; while they were conducted safe through it on dry land, (Exod. xv. 1.13. 19.)

Psalms 105:44

And gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited, the labour of the people. And, in conclusion; he cast out seven nations, to make room for them in the land of Canaan: where their posterity took possession of cities and towns, fields and vineyards; which the labour of others had built and planted for them, (Dent. vi. 10, 11, * Josh. xxiv. 13.)

Psalms 105:45

TJiat they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord. That they might have the more leisure to purge the country of all its ancient superstition and filthiness: and set themselves heartily to worship God, after that manner tha,t he prescribed; in a strict 2C3