FRAMEWORKS:
Psa 105: The Covenant that took Israel to Canaan
[Preliminary
Comments: In many ways a very straight forward psalm
that starts with a call to remember what God had done and praise
Him for it, [v.1-6] and goes on to describe how the sovereign
Lord [v.7] made a covenant with Abraham [Gen 15:12-20] and the
other patriarchs [v.8-10], having called Abram [v.11-15], used
Joseph [v.16-22] to eventually bring Israel to Egypt [v.23-25]
and years later used Moses to bring judgment on Egypt [v.26-36]
and to deliver Israel from Egypt to Canaan [v.37-45] to be His
chosen people.]
v.1-6
Instructions to Israel
v.1
Give
praise to the Lord,
proclaim his name;
make known among the
nations what he has done.
v.2 Sing
to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful
acts.
v.3 Glory
in
his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the
Lord rejoice.
v.4 Look
to the Lord
and his strength;
seek his face always.
v.5
Remember
the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
v.6 you
his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob
.
v.7
All that follows is because He is sovereign Lord
v.7
He
is the Lord
our God;
his judgments [divine
decrees] are in all the earth.
v.8-10
All that follows is how He worked out His covenant with Israel
v.8
He
remembers his covenant for ever,
the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
v.9 the
covenant he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
v.10
He
confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
v.11-15
He took a wandering nomad [Abram] and chose him
v.11
To
you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion you will inherit.'
v.12
When
they were but few in number,
few indeed, and strangers in it,
v.13
they
wandered from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
v.14
He
allowed no one to oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
v.15
Do
not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.'
v.16-22
He brought about His plan through Joseph
v.16
He
called down famine on the land
and destroyed all their supplies of food;
v.17
and
he sent a man before them
Joseph, sold as a slave.
v.18
They
bruised his feet with shackles,
his neck was put in irons,
v.19
till
what he foretold came to pass,
till the word of the Lord proved him
true.
v.20
The
king sent and released him,
the ruler of peoples set him free.
v.21
He
made him master of his household,
ruler over all he possessed,
v.22
to
instruct his princes as he pleased
and teach his elders wisdom.
v.23-25
He took Jacob & family to Egypt which became inhospitable
v.23
Then
Israel entered Egypt;
Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land
of Ham.
v.24
The
Lord
made his people very fruitful;
he made them too numerous for their foes,
v.25
whose
hearts he turned to hate his people,
to conspire against his servants.
v.26-36
He used Moses to bring ten plagues on Egypt
v.26
He
sent Moses his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
v.27
They
performed his signs among them,
his wonders in the land of Ham.
v.28
He
sent darkness and made the land dark
for had they not rebelled against his
words?
v.29
He
turned their waters into blood,
causing their fish to die.
v.30
Their
land teemed with frogs,
which went up into the bedrooms of their
rulers.
v.31
He
spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
v.32
He
turned their rain into hail,
with lightning throughout their land;
v.33
he
struck down their vines and fig-trees
and shattered the trees of their country.
v.34
He
spoke, and the locusts came,
grasshoppers without number;
v.35
they
ate up every green thing in their land,
ate up the produce of their soil.
v.36
Then
he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first-fruits of all their manhood.
v.37-45
The Exodus: He delivered Israel from Egypt into Canaan
v.37
He
brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,
and from among their tribes no one faltered.
v.38
Egypt
was glad when they left,
because dread of Israel had fallen on
them.
v.39
He
spread out a cloud as a covering,
and a fire to give light at night.
v.40
They
asked, and he brought them quail;
he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
v.41
He
opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed like a river in the desert.
v.42
For
he remembered his holy promise
given to his servant Abraham.
v.43
He
brought out his people with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
v.44
he
gave them the lands of the nations,
and they fell heir to what others had
toiled for
v.45
that
they might keep his precepts
and observe his laws.
Praise
the Lord
[Additional
Comments: There are various times in Scripture where
we find summary histories of how Israel came to be the people
of God. This is one of them and that provides the background for
an opportunity to praise the Lord.]
Continue
to Psa 106