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Psalm 105

God’s Faithfulness to Israel

1

O give thanks to the L ord, call on his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples.

2

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

3

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the L ord rejoice.

4

Seek the L ord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

5

Remember the wonderful works he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

6

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

 

7

He is the L ord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

8

He is mindful of his covenant forever,

of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

9

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac,

10

which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

11

saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as your portion for an inheritance.”

 

12

When they were few in number,

of little account, and strangers in it,

13

wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

14

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

15

saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.”

 

16

When he summoned famine against the land,

and broke every staff of bread,

17

he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

18

His feet were hurt with fetters,

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

19

until what he had said came to pass,

the word of the L ord kept testing him.

20

The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free.

21

He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all his possessions,

22

to instruct his officials at his pleasure,

and to teach his elders wisdom.

 

23

Then Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

24

And the L ord made his people very fruitful,

and made them stronger than their foes,

25

whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.

 

26

He sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron whom he had chosen.

27

They performed his signs among them,

and miracles in the land of Ham.

28

He sent darkness, and made the land dark;

they rebelled against his words.

29

He turned their waters into blood,

and caused their fish to die.

30

Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the chambers of their kings.

31

He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

32

He gave them hail for rain,

and lightning that flashed through their land.

33

He struck their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

34

He spoke, and the locusts came,

and young locusts without number;

35

they devoured all the vegetation in their land,

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

36

He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the first issue of all their strength.

 

37

Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,

and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.

38

Egypt was glad when they departed,

for dread of them had fallen upon it.

39

He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

40

They asked, and he brought quails,

and gave them food from heaven in abundance.

41

He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed through the desert like a river.

42

For he remembered his holy promise,

and Abraham, his servant.

 

43

So he brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing.

44

He gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,

45

that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the L ord!


15. Saying, Touch not my anointed ones The Psalmist proceeds farther, affirming, that when God made war against kings for the sake of his servants, they were defended by him, not only as he is accustomed to succor the miserable and the unjustly oppressed, but because he had taken them under his special guardianship. God protects his people, not only upon a general ground, but because he has declared on account of his free adoption, that he will maintain them. This is the reason why these holy patriarchs are here honored with two designations, his prophets and his anointed ones In speaking of other men, God would have said, Touch not these men who have done wrong to nobody, hurt not these poor wretched creatures who have deserved no such treatment at your hands. But in the person of Abraham and his children, he shows that there was another reason for his defending them. He calls them anointed ones, because he had set them apart to be his peculiar people. In the same sense, he designates them prophets, (a title with which Abraham is also honored, Genesis 20:7) not only because God had manifested himself more intimately to them, but also because they faithfully spread around them divine truth, that the memory of it might survive them, and flourish after their death. Anointing, it is true, was not as yet in use, as it was afterwards under the law; but the prophet teaches, that what God at a subsequent period exhibited in the ceremonies of the law was really and in very deed in Abraham, even as God engraves the mark of sanctification on all his chosen ones. If God’s inward anointing was of such powerful efficacy, even at the time when he had not yet appointed, or delivered the figures of the law, with how much greater care will he defend his servants now, after having exhibited to us the plenitude of anointing in his only begotten Son!


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