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Psalm 105

God’s Faithfulness to Israel

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

make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wonderful works.

Glory in his holy name;

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

Seek the L ord and his strength;

seek his presence continually.

Remember the wonderful works he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,

O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

He is the L ord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth.

He is mindful of his covenant forever,

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

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac,

which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

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

as your portion for an inheritance.”

When they were few in number,

of little account, and strangers in it,

wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account,

saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones;

do my prophets no harm.”

When he summoned famine against the land,

and broke every staff of bread,

he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

His feet were hurt with fetters,

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

until what he had said came to pass,

the word of the L ord kept testing him.

The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all his possessions,

to instruct his officials at his pleasure,

and to teach his elders wisdom.

Then Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

And the L ord made his people very fruitful,

and made them stronger than their foes,

whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.

He sent his servant Moses,

and Aaron whom he had chosen.

They performed his signs among them,

and miracles in the land of Ham.

He sent darkness, and made the land dark;

they rebelled against his words.

He turned their waters into blood,

and caused their fish to die.

Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the chambers of their kings.

He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country.

He gave them hail for rain,

and lightning that flashed through their land.

He struck their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

He spoke, and the locusts came,

and young locusts without number;

they devoured all the vegetation in their land,

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the first issue of all their strength.

Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,

and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.

Egypt was glad when they departed,

for dread of them had fallen upon it.

He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

They asked, and he brought quails,

and gave them food from heaven in abundance.

He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed through the desert like a river.

For he remembered his holy promise,

and Abraham, his servant.

So he brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing.

He gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,

that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the L ord!

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In the 28th verse he specifics one of these miracles, which yet was not the first in order, but from which it is easy to gather that God was the author of the deliverance of Israel, and in which the course of nature was entirely changed; for nothing is more astonishing than to see the light turned into darkness. In the second clause, he commends the faithfulness of Moses and Aaron, in courageously executing whatever God had commanded them: And they were not rebellious against his words ²²⁴²²⁴ They executed the command of God, with respect to the plagues brought on the Egyptians, although they knew that in thus acting they would incur the heavy displeasure of Pharaoh, and expose their lives to considerable danger. “The import of מרו לא, they resisted not,” says Hammond, “seems no more than what is affirmed in the story, Exodus 10:21, 22, ‘The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand. — And Moses stretched forth his hand,’ — i.e., readily obeyed, and did what God directed, and that at a time when Pharaoh was likely to be incensed, and vehemently offended with him and Aaron. For which consideration the story there gives us this farther ground: for as, verse 10, he had before expressed some anger and threats, — ‘Look to it, for evil is before you,’ and ‘they were driven from his presence,’ verse 11; so now, upon the hardening his heart, which follows this plague of darkness, he said to Moses, ‘Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more, for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die the death,’ verse 28. This rage of Pharaoh, Moses in reason might well foresee, but he dreaded it not; but boldly did as God directed, and that is the meaning of “they resisted not God’s word.’” There was, as if it had been said, the most perfect harmony between the command of God and the obedience of both his servants.

²²⁴ They executed the command of God, with respect to the plagues brought on the Egyptians, although they knew that in thus acting they would incur the heavy displeasure of Pharaoh, and expose their lives to considerable danger. “The import of מרו לא, they resisted not,” says Hammond, “seems no more than what is affirmed in the story, Exodus 10:21, 22, ‘The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand. — And Moses stretched forth his hand,’ — i.e., readily obeyed, and did what God directed, and that at a time when Pharaoh was likely to be incensed, and vehemently offended with him and Aaron. For which consideration the story there gives us this farther ground: for as, verse 10, he had before expressed some anger and threats, — ‘Look to it, for evil is before you,’ and ‘they were driven from his presence,’ verse 11; so now, upon the hardening his heart, which follows this plague of darkness, he said to Moses, ‘Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more, for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die the death,’ verse 28. This rage of Pharaoh, Moses in reason might well foresee, but he dreaded it not; but boldly did as God directed, and that is the meaning of “they resisted not God’s word.’”