PSALM 106 OVERVIEW

This is not going to be a verse-by-verse commentary on this psalm, but more of an overview. Sometimes a biblical text can be viewed best through a telescope from a distance to get an idea of its general features before bringing out the microscope. It is sort of like the old story of a group of blindfolded people trying to describe an elephant when one is feeling its toes, another one is holding its tail, and a third one is exploring its trunk. You will never get an accurate picture of what the animal looks like without first understanding how each individual piece fits together to form a whole.

So the first thing to note is that this psalm is actually an exact sequel to Psalm 105. In that previous poem, the psalmist reviewed the history of the Jews from the time of Abraham to their life in Egypt, with a few closing comments on the time in the wilderness. It is a continual testimony to the many ways in which God had blessed the people. Now in Psalm 106 this history lesson will continue with more details regarding the wilderness experience followed by the ways in which God utilized persecution from foreign nations over the years to chastise Israel for her corporate sins up to the point of letting the Jews be led away into captivity. Kselman thus labels Psalm 106 as “a penitential companion piece to Ps 105.” Others comment on the relationship between these adjacent psalms:

    M'Caw and Motyer: “The same history, which in Ps. 105 was reviewed in order to display the grace of God, is here laid under consideration to show the unworthiness of the chosen people.”

    Allen: “This psalm, like the last, reviews Israel's history, but it presents the reverse side of the coin.”

    Kidner: “This psalm is the dark counterpart of its predecessor, a shadow cast by human self-will in its long struggle against the light.”

    Jacobson: “Psalm 106 may be considered the twin psalm to Psalm 105 – but the fraternal rather than the identical twin...whereas Psalm 105 accentuates the positive...Psalm 106 eliminates the positive...”

I always find it helpful to outline a passage in terms of its literary structure since that tends to bring into focus the major points the author wished to stress and allows one to better understand the overall flow of the text. Below is my rough attempt to capture the organization of Psalm 106:

A. Let all praise the LORD (vv. 1-3)

        B. Psalmist's prayer to God (vv. 4-6)

                C. The ancestors' disobedience and God's response (vv. 7-46)

                    1. They rebel, but He saves them for his name's sake (vv. 7-12)

                        2. They put God to the test with their deeds (vv. 13-22)

                            3. God swears to destroy them but Moses intercedes (v. 23)

                       2'. They do not trust or obey God (vv. 24-25)

                            3'. God swears to destroy them but Phinehas intercedes (vv. 26-31)

                  1'. They anger God, but He saves them for their sake (vv. 32-46)

        B'. Psalmist's prayer to God (v. 47)

A'. Let all praise the LORD (v. 48)

In regard to this proposed structure, the following should be noted:

    A and A' both have references to the eternal nature of God: “forever” in v. 1 and “from everlasting to everlasting” in v. 48.

    B and B' are penitential prayers for salvation so that both the Psalmist and the people can “glory” in God's heritage and name.

    A-B and A'-B' are written in the first-person while C is in the third-person.

    Acting as bookends defining the limits of Section C are occurrences of the “remember” and “abundance of his/your steadfast love.” (vv. 7 and 45).

    The limits of C2 are indicated by repetition of the accusation that the people “forgot” God and his great works on their behalf (vv. 13 and 21).

The symmetrical pattern shown above argues somewhat against two proposals that have been made concerning this psalm. The first concerns its opening. A.A. Anderson notes, “The introductory verses of the Psalm are occasionally taken as the conclusion of Ps. 105, while verses 4-5 are thought to be a later addition to adapt the poem for a personal devotional use.” Likewise, concerning the end of Psalm 106 we find comments such as those by Jacobson, who states, “The final verse is not part of Psalm 106 proper. It is the closing doxology to Book Four of the Psalter.” Contra those two statements, one can see that the opening and closing verses form a perfect matched pair and are quite comfortably situated within Psalm 106, although the final verse may serve a dual purpose by also concluding Book Four.

Because of its mainly literary and topical arrangement, the historical events referred to in Psalm 106 do not always follow in a strictly chronological order. Here is a key to the events in the Pentateuch to which there is reference:

Psalm 106             Pentateuch Reference

vv. 8-12                 Exodus 14:26-28

vv. 13-15              Exodus 16-17

vv. 16-18              Numbers 16

vv. 19-20              Exodus 32:1-10

v. 23                     Exodus 32:11-13

vv. 24-27             Numbers 14:1-35

vv. 28-29             Numbers 25:1-5

vv. 30-31             Numbers 25:6-13

vv. 32-33             Numbers 20:2-13; Exodus 17:1-7

vv. 34-36             Deuteronomy 20:18

In addition to this obvious relationship between Ps. 106 and the first five books of the Bible, there are two other OT books that are said to share a strong relationship with it. Fensham says, “With Ps. 106 we are moving closer [than Ps. 105] to the theme of Neh. 9. It extols the Lord's mighty acts, but emphasizes at the same time the unfaithfulness of Israel, a theme well known in Deuteronomic literature.”

And another example of possible borrowing is that between Ps. 106 and the book of Hosea. But if there is any borrowing, its direction is not obvious, and Dearman's opinion is that “a simple dependence of one composition on the other does not seem demonstrable. On the the other hand, both share some vocabulary and angles of vision on the past in ways that suggest they are drawn on a common matrix of text and allusion.”

One complicating factor in determining any possible influence of any OT book on another is that it is often notoriously hard to pin down the probable times of composition. Thus, Psalm 106 may have been composed by David, but verses 27 and 47 have been taken as indications that it must have been written in the early post-Exilic period. In rebuttal to that latter date, M'Caw and Motyer point out, in regard to v. 47, “There could have been no occasion from the entrance into Canaan onwards when some Israelites were not held in alien slavery and when the nation as a whole was not conscious of surrounding paganism.”

And, finally, just as Psalm 106 looked backward to earlier events in the history of the Jews, many of the verses in that psalm were later referenced by the New Testament writers. In addition, the whole psalm may have served as a model for those authors.

    Pao and Schnabel see echoes of the disobedient acts enumerated in Ps. 106 in the three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness.

    Marshall cites Ps. 106 as one of the prototypical surveys of Israelite history, especially its darker moments, which served as a model for Stephen's speech in Acts 7 right before he was stoned to death.

    Ciampa and Rosner state, “In a way similar to that of Pss. 78; 106..., Paul, in [I Corinthians] 10:1-13 rehearses the consequences of earlier rejections of God's mercy as a warning to the author's own generation of readers.”