Psalms 106

Psalms 106:2

For - God is here compared to the master of a feast, who then used to distribute portions of meat and drink to the several guests. A cup - Of vengeance. Red - Such as the best wine of Judea was. Mixture - The wine is mingled not with water, but with strengthening and intoxicating ingredients. Dregs - The worst and most dreadful part of those tribulations. Shall wring - This dreadful draught was brought upon them by their own choice and wickedness.

Psalms 106:3

Declare - The praises of God.

Psalms 106:4

Horns - Their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief. Will - When I shall be advanced to the throne. But - Good men shall be encouraged and promoted.

Psalms 106:6

Horns - Their honour and power, which they made an instrument of mischief. Will - When I shall be advanced to the throne. But - Good men shall be encouraged and promoted.

Psalms 106:7

Salem - In Jerusalem, which was anciently called Salem. Zion - Largely so called, as it includes Moriah, an adjoining hill.

Psalms 106:8

There - At Jerusalem. Sword - Both offensive and defensive weapons. Battle - All the power of the army, which was put in battle - array.

Psalms 106:9

Thou - O God. Than - The greatest kings and empires of the earth, which in prophetic writings are often compared to mountains. And they are called mountains of prey, because they generally were established by tyranny, and maintained by preying upon their own subjects, or other kingdoms.

Psalms 106:10

Sleep - Even a perpetual sleep.

Psalms 106:11

Chariot - The men who rode upon, and fought from chariots and horses.

Psalms 106:13

Thou - Didst execute judgment upon thine enemies, by an angel from heaven: which is said to be heard, either because it was accompanied with thunders and earthquakes, or because the fame of it was quickly spread abroad. Feared - The rest of the world were afraid to disturb Israel.

Psalms 106:15

Surely - The furious attempts of thine enemies, shall cause thy people and others to praise thee for thy admirable wisdom, power, and faithfulness.

Psalms 106:16

Vow - A sacrifice of thanksgiving for this wonderful deliverance. Let all - All the neighboring nations submit to the God of Israel.

Psalms 106:17

Cut off - As men do their grapes in time of vintage; so the Hebrew verb implies. The spirit - Their breath and life, as he did in the Assyrian army.

Psalms 106:19

Cut off - As men do their grapes in time of vintage; so the Hebrew verb implies. The spirit - Their breath and life, as he did in the Assyrian army.

Psalms 106:20

Night - Which to others was a time of rest and quietness.

Psalms 106:21

Troubled - Yea, the thoughts of God were now a matter of trouble, because he was angry with me. Overwhelmed - So far was I from finding relief.

Psalms 106:22

Waking - By continual grief.

Psalms 106:23

The days - The mighty works of God in former times.

Psalms 106:24

My song - The mercies of God vouchsafed to me, and to his people, which have obliged me to sing his praises, not only in the day, but also by night.

Psalms 106:25

Cut off - His peculiar people.

Psalms 106:28

I said - These suspicions of God’s faithfulness proceed from the weakness of my faith. The years - The years wherein God hath done great and glorious works, which are often ascribed to God’s right - hand.

Psalms 106:31

In holiness - God is holy and just, and true in all his works.

Psalms 106:34

Afraid - And stood still, as men astonished, do.

Psalms 106:35

Poured - When the Israelites passed over the sea. Arrows - Hail - stones or lightnings.

Psalms 106:37

Not known - Because the water returned and covered them.

Psalms 106:38

Leddest - First through the sea, and afterwards through the wilderness, with singular care and tenderness, as a shepherd doth his sheep.

Psalms 106:40

My law - The doctrine which I am about to deliver.

Psalms 106:41

Parable - Weighty sentences. Dark sayings - Not that the words are hard to be understood, but the things, God’s transcendent goodness, their unparallel’d ingratitude; and their stupid ignorance and insensibleness, under such excellent teachings of God’s word and works, are prodigious and hard to be believed. Of old - Of things done in ancient times.

Psalms 106:44

Established - This is justly put in first place, as the chief of all his mercies. A testimony - His law, called a testimony, because it is a witness between God and men, declaring the duties which God expects from man, and the blessings which man may expect from God.

Psalms 106:48

Ephraim - That Ephraim is here put for all Israel seems evident from the following verses, wherein the sins, upon which this overthrow is charged, are manifestly the sins of all the children of Israel, and they who are here called Ephraim are called Jacob and Israel, ver.21, and this passage may refer to that dreadful overthrow related, 1 Samuel 4:10,11, which is particularly named, because as the ark, so the flight was in that tribe. And the psalmist having related this amazing providence, falls into a large discourse of the causes of it, namely, the manifold sins of that and the former generations, which having prosecuted from hence to ver.60, he there returns to this history, and relates the sad consequence of that disaster, the captivity of the ark, and God’s forsaking of Shiloh and Ephraim, and removing thence to the tribe of Judah and mount Zion. Bows - These are put for all arms.