Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 (NRSV)
1 Praise the Lord!
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord,
or declare all his praise?
3 Happy are those who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
help me when you deliver them;
5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
that I may glory in your heritage.
6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned;
we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
19 They made a calf at Horeb
and worshiped a cast image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
Psalm 106 has a connection to Deuteronomy. The theme is that of a covenant festival and the saving history. It is like Psalm 105, but the focus now is disobedience. In fact, this psalm may have had a connection with Psalm 105 exceedingly early. The Psalm shows God as acting on behalf of Israel while Israel responds with disobedience. Some scholars look at it as a post-exilic psalm that presents a history of the sins of Israel that culminates in idolatrous practices that polluted the land of Israel and led to the destruction and exile. The catalogue of sins shows how forbearing and forgiving the Lord has been throughout the past, and by implication, how forgiving the Lord will continue to be, since the Lord maintains the covenant and is merciful. The confession of the failure of Israel to trust the Lord leads to an affirmation of the compassion of the Lord. The history of the Lord and Israel is the model for the future. The exile of 586 BC, says the poet, is no different from earlier punishments, after which the Lord took Israel back into divine favor. The psalm is both a praise to the Lord and a request to be gathered from the nations and thus returned from exile. Like Psalm 105, this psalm invokes Torah traditions along with interpretive comments. It adopts a Deuteronomic view that the exile was caused by the sins of Israel.
In Psalm 106: 1-6, we find a call to the community to testify to the everlasting goodness of the Lord. 1 Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. This ritual exclamation was common in the exilic period, as we see in Psalm 107, 118:1, 29, 136:1, I Chronicles 16:41, and II Chronicles 7:6. The summons to offer praise and thanksgiving in prayer has its underlying thought and motivation in the goodness of God.[1] We find the same call in I Chronicles 16:34. In distinction from Greek worship of the cosmos, which is perishable, the goodness of the Lord will remain. We have a reminder of the eternity of God in Christian theology.[2] 2 Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord, or declare all his praise? Speech itself is not worthy of offering this praise of the multiplicity of the divine acts of the Lord.[3] 3 Happy are those who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times. Obedience to the divine command in the sense of justice and righteousness brings blessedness. In verse 4-5, the supplication refers to promises of salvation and the saving deeds. The psalmist wishes to be included in the national favor that the Lord will grant. 4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you deliver them; 5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory in your heritage. He refers to the people of the Lord as the chosen ones, the nation, and the heritage of the Lord. Yet, in a confession of guilt that unites present with past, 6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly. The poet owns and confesses present failure. The present generation joins itself to past generations of sinners, implicitly suggesting that it should be forgiven, as they were.
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