Matthew Poole and continuators on Psalms 106

1. PRaise ye the Lord; O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever .

He deserves our Praises, notwithstanding all our sufferings which are not to be imputed to him, for he is Gracious and Merciful but only to our own Sins.

Marginal references: Heb. Hallelujah.; 1 Chr. 16. 34. Psal. 107. 1. & 118. 1. & 1[illegible: 1+ letters]6. 1.

2. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise ?

(i. e.) His Praise▪worthy actions, by an usual Metonymy.

3. Blessed are they that keep judgment ▪ and he that doth righteousness at all times .

That observe and practise what is just and right towards God and Men; which in the next clause he calls doing righteousness.

In Adversity as well as in Prosperity. And this clause may belong either, 1. to the last foregoing Words, that doth righteousness at all times, constantly and perpetually: Or rather, 2. to the first Words, they are blessed at all times, even in the Day of their calamity, which therefore ought not to hinder us from this great and just Duty of praising God. And so this verse coheres with the former.

4▪ Remember me , O Lord, with the favour that thou be arest unto thy people : O visit me with thy salvation .

Or, us: for he speaks here in the name, and on the behalf of the whole Nation, as is evident from v. 6, 7, 47. of which he oft speaks as of one Person.

With those favours and blessings which thou dost usually and peculiarly give to thy People; such as the pardon of all our Sins, by which we have procured our present miseries, and a compleat deliverance, and that improved to thy praise and glory, as well as to our own comfort, as is clearly implyed v. 47.

Give me that salvation or deliverance which thou hast promised, and which none but thou canst give.

Marginal references: Heb. of thy People.

5. That I may see the good of thy chosen , that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation : that I may glory with thine inheritance ▪

(i. e.) Enjoy, as the next clause explains it, and as this word is frequently used.

Of thy chosen People; which thou usest to give to thine Elect, or to such as are Israelites indeed.

With such joy as thou hast formerly afforded unto thy beloved Nation or People.

That we may have occasion to glory in Gods Goodness towards us.

Either in the Congregation of thy People: that we thy People may jointly and solemnly praise thy Name: Or, as thy People, who are commonly called Gods inheritance, in former ages have frequently done: for the Particle, with, is sometimes used as a Note of comparison, as it is in the very next Verse, and Iob 9. 26. Eccles. 2. 16. & 7. 11.

6. We have sinned with our fathers : we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

As our Fathers did, and have not been made wiser or better by their examples, as we should have been.

Marginal references: Dan. 9. 5.

7. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt, they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea .

Or, considered not, to wit, so as to be rightly affected with them, to give thee that Love, and Praise, and Trust, and Obedience, which they deserved and required.

When those wonders of thy Power and Goodness in Egypt, were but newly done, and fresh in memory.

Marginal references: Exod. 14. 11, 12.

8. Nevertheless; he saved them for his namessake ; that he might make his mighty power to be known.

That he might glorifie his name, and vindicate it from the Blasphemous [illegible: 1 word], which the Egyptians and others would have cast upon it, if they had been destroyed. This Argument was urged by Moses, Numb. 14. 13, &c.

Marginal references: Exod. 9. 16.

9. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness .

As securely as if they had walked upon the dry Land.

Marginal references: Exod. 14. 21.; Psal. 136. 13. Isa. 63. 11, 12, 13.

10. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them , and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

Of Pharaoh who pursued them with cruel Rage and Hatred.

13. They soon forgat his works, they waited not for his counsel .

Even within three days, Exod. 15. 22, 23.

They did not wait patiently and believingly upon God for supplies from his hand, in such manner and time as he in his own counsel had appointed and thought fit.

Marginal references: Exod. 15. 24. & 17. 2.; Heb. they made hast, they forgat.

14. But lusted exceedingly , in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desart.

To wit, for flesh, as the next Verse sheweth.

Marginal references: Num. 11. 4. 33. 1 Cor. 10. 6.; Heb. lusted i[illegible: 1+ letters] lust.

15. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their Souls .

Either into their Persons: Or, rather their Bodies, which are oft understood by this word; of which see the Notes upon Psal. 16. 10. So their inordinate desire of pleasing and pampering their Bodies, was the occasion of destroying them; whilest God denied his Blessing, which alone makes food able to nourish us, and inflicted his curse, which made their food as destructive as Poison to them.

Marginal references: Num. 11. 31.

16. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the Saint of the Lord .

So called here not so much from his inherent Holiness, whereof Moses had a greater share, but because he was consecrated or set apart by God for that sacred office of the Priest-hood, in which respect all the Priests are said to be holy, Levit. 21. 6, 7, 8. Hereby he intimates, that their Envy and Rebellion was not only against Aaron, but against God himself.

Marginal references: Num. 16. 1, 1[illegible: 1+ letters]

17. The earth opened, and swallowed up Dathan , and covered the company of Abiram.

With his company, which is sufficiently understood out of the following clause, and out of the History, Numb. 16.

Marginal references: Num. 16. 31. Deut. 11. 16.

18. And a fire was kindled in their company , the flame burnt up the wicked.

In their Associates or Confederates, those wicked men, as he calls them in the next clause, to wit, Korah and his company, who were consumed by a Fire from the Lord, Numb. 16. 35. compared with v. 1, 2, 16, 17, 18, 19.

Marginal references: Num. 16. 35, [illegible: 1+ letters].

19. They made a calf in Horeb , and worshipped the molten Image.

When they were but very lately brought out of Egypt by such wonderful Power and Goodness of God, and had seen the dreadful Plagues of God upon the Egyptian Idolaters, and upon their Idols too, as is noted Numb. 33. 4. and when the Law of God was but newly delivered to them in such a solemn and tremendous manner, and the most High God was yet present, and delivering further Precepts to Moses for their benefit upon the top of that very Mount. This greatly aggravated their Sin.

Marginal references: Exod. 32. 4.

20. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass .

As far as in them lay, and in respect of their Worship.

Their God, who was indeed their glory; for they had this just occasion of triumphing and glorying over all the Nations of the World; that whereas all other Nations worshipped stocks and stones, or the heavenly Bodies, or dead Men, they only worshipped the living true God, who was present and in Covenant with them, and with them only.

Into the Golden Image of an Ox or Calf.

Which is so far from feeding his People, as the true God did the Israelites, that he must be fed by them. And yet the Image of such a creature was preferred by them, before the all-sufficient and everblessed God, which was an evidence of their horrid contempt of God, as also of their prodigious folly and stupidity.

Marginal references: Jer. 2. 11. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 23.

23. Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach : to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them

He declared his intention in express words, as Exod. 32. 10. and elsewhere.

God had made an Hedge or Wall about them; but they had made a gap or breach in it by their Sins, at which the Lord, who was now justly become their Enemy, might enter to destroy them; which he had certainly done, if Moses by his prevailing intercession had not hindered him. See Deut. 9. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. & 10. 10. It is a Metaphor from a Besieged City, where the Enemy indeavours to make a breach in the Walls, and thereby to enter into the City; which he will do, unless some valiant Champion stand in the gap to oppose him.

Marginal references: Exod. 32. 10, 11, 32.

24. Yea, they despised the pleasant land : they believed not his word :

Preferring Egypt and their former Bondage before it, Numb. 14. 3, 4. and not thinking it worthy of a little hazard and difficulty in taking the possession of it.

Canaan, which was so not only in truth, Deut. 11. 11, 12. Ier. 3. 19. Ezek. 20. 6. but even by the relation of those Spies, who discouraged them from entring into it.

(i. e.) His promise of giving them the land, and subduing all their Enemies before them; which they knew by late and manifold experience, that God was both able and willing to do.

Marginal references: Heb. a land of [illegible: 1 word].

25. But murmured in their tents, and hearkned not unto the voice of the Lord .

To Gods command, which was that they should boldly and confidently enter into it.

Marginal references: Num. 14. 2.

26. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

He sware, as this phrase is commonly used, as Gen. 14. 22. Deut. 32. 40. Nehem. 9. 15. Revel. 10. 5, 6. of this dreadful and irrevocable Sentence and Oath of God, See Numb. 14.

Marginal references: Num. 14. 28.

27. To overthrow their seed also among the Nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

He sware also (though not at the same time) that he would punish their Sins, not only in their Persons, but also in their Posterity. See Exod. 20. 5. & 3[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 34. Levit. 26. 33. others refer this to the same Oath and History, Numb. 14. because God intended at first to destroy both Parents and Children, even the whole Nation, v. 12. 15. though afterwards upon Moses his intercession he limited the judgment to that Generation. But that Destruction threatned was by the Pestilence, v. 12. not, as here, by Captivity and Banishment. Besides, God said that, v. 11. but he did not swear it, but the Oath came afterward, v. 21.

Marginal references: Heb. to make them fall.; Psal. 44. 11. Ezek. 20. 23.

28. They joyned themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead .

To wit, in Worship, whereby they had an union and communion with him, as Gods People have with God in acts of his Worship. And this phrase seems also to note their Carnal Copulation with the Daughters of Moab in the Temple, or to the Honour of Baal-Peor.

Which were offered to Idols, which he calls dead, in opposition to the true and living God, and by way of contempt, and to note the sottishness of Idolaters who worshipped lifeless things, as stocks and stones or dead Men. And some learned men conceive that this is spoken with particular regard to Baal-Peor, or the Lord of Peor, a place so called, who had been a Person of great eminency in those parts, and therefore was Worshipped according to the custom of the Heathens, after his Death, by Sacrifices and Feasts appointed for his Honour and Memory.

Marginal references: Num. 25. 2, 3. & 31. 16. Rev. 2. 14.

31. And that was counted unto him for righteousness , unto all generations for evermore.

And although that action of his might seem harsh, and rash, and irregular, as being done by a private Person and a Priest, and as allowing the Delinquents no space for Repentance, it was accepted and rewarded by God as an act of Justice and Piety agreeable to his mind, and proceeding from a sincere zeal for Gods honour, and for the good of Gods People; and God gave him a publick Testimony of his approbation to be recorded to all Generations, and the Priesthood to be continued to him and his in all succeeding Generations, of all which see Numb. 25.

32. They angred him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes .

Or, because of them, upon occasion of their unbelief and murmuring, whereby he was provoked to speak unadvisedly, as it here follows.

Marginal references: Num. 20. [illegible: 1+ letters], 12, 13.

33. Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

So this word is thought to signifie, Leviticus 5. 4. Prov. 12. 18. Or, he spake, as the word commonly signifies. Not that it was in it self a Sin to speak, but because he spake when he should have been silent; or he spake to the People, when God commanded him only to speak to the Rock, Numb. 20. 8, 9, 10. or, he spake, to wit, the provocation of his spirit, or such words as were agreeable to it, and might be expected from it. He mentions not here what Moses spake, because that was fully known from the History, and because he would throw a veil over Moses his infirmity, and rather imply than express his fault.

34. They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the Lord commanded them.

(i. e.) Concerning whose destruction: Or rather, which thing, to wit, to destroy those Canaanitish Nations: for in the Hebrew there is nothing but asher, which signifies only, either whom or which.

Marginal references: Judg. 1. 21, 27.; Deut. 7. 2.

35. But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

In their Habitations and Negotiations, as also in Marriages.

Marginal references: Judg. 1. 21. & 2. 2. & 3. 5, 6.

36. And they served their idols which were a snare unto them .

Which Idols were an occasion of their falling both into further and greater sins, as it follows v. 37, 38. and into utter ruine, as this phrase also notes, Exod. 23. 33. Iudg. 2. 12, &c.

37. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils :

Of which Heathenish practice, see the notes on Levit. 18. 21.

By which expression he informeth them that they did not worship God, as they pretended and sometimes designed, but Devils in their Idols; and that those spirits, which were supposed by the Heathen Idolaters to inhabit in their Images, and which they worshipped in them, were not Gods or good Spirits, as they imagined, but evil Spirits or Devils. See Levit. 17. 7. Deut. 32. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 20. Revel. 9. 20.

Marginal references: 2 Kings 16. 3. Isai. 57. 5. Ezek. 16. 20. & 20. 26.

38. And shed innocent blood , even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the Idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

The blood of their Children, who, though Sinners before God, yet were innocent as to them, from any crime deserving such barbarous usage from them.

Marginal references: Numb. 35. 33.

39. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions .

Committed spiritual Whoredom by worshipping those Idols which were but humane inventions, and that in such an unnatural and bloody manner, as they had devised.

43. Many times did he deliver them, but they provoked him with their counsel , and were brought low for their iniquity.

By forsaking Gods counsel and the way which he had appointed, and following after their own inventions and evil inclinations, as he charged them v. 39. See the like Numb. 15. 39.

Marginal references: Judg. 2. 16.; Or, impoverished, or, weakned.

45. And he remembred for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.

The Covenant made with their Fathers, which, notwithstanding their horrible violation of it, he made good unto them, and in consideration thereof delivered them.

Changed his course and dealing with them, as penitent Persons usually do. See the Note on Gen. 6. 6.

Marginal references: Deut. 30. 3.

46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives .

By changing their opinions of them, and inclining their hearts towards them, which he had alienated from them. See on Psal. 105. 25.

Marginal references: 1 Kings 8. 50. Jer. 42. 12.

47. Save us, O LORD our God , and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise .

O thou who hast so often pardoned and saved us, notwithstanding our former and manifold provocations, be thou pleased once more to deliver us.

In thy Praise-worthy work wrought for us; Praise being but for actions worthy of Praise, as it is here above v. 2. 1 Chron. 16. 35. Psal. 9. 14. Phil. 4. 8. and oft elsewhere.