Psalm 105

The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord

1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!

2 Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!

3 Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!

4 Seek the Lord and His strength;
Seek His face evermore!

5 Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,

6 O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.

8 He remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,

9 The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,

10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”

12 When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, and strangers in it.

13 When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,

14 He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes,

15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”

16 Moreover He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the provision of bread.

17 He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.

18 They hurt his feet with fetters,
He was laid in irons.

19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
The word of the Lord tested him.

20 The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.

21 He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,

22 To bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.

23 Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.

24 He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.

25 He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.

26 He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.

27 They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.

29 He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.

30 Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.

31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.

32 He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.

33 He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.

34 He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,

35 And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.

36 He also destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
The first of all their strength.

37 He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.

38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.

40 The people asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.

42 For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.

43 He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with gladness.

44 He gave them the lands of the Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,

45 That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.
Praise the Lord!

Though the Hebrew text of this psalm has no heading, evidence for its partial—if not complete—attribution to David is attested by (1) the presentation of verses 1-15 in 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 as part of a psalm of thanksgiving ascribed to David, and (2) the attribution to David of verse 38 (and by implication the rest of the psalm) in Jewish tradition. — Wechsler, page 249.

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A Praise to the God of the Abrahamic Covenant for choosing a People and Giving Them a Land (vs.1-11). Insofar as this psalm focuses on God’s faithfulness in upholding the three promises/provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant (i.e., land, people, and blessing), the psalmist begins by exhorting his audience (i.e., Israel) to make known His deeds (i.e., His sovereignty and character as borne out by His deeds of salvation and judgment—in essence, the Old Testament gospel; cf. Isaiah 52:7) among the peoples—thus reflecting God’s primary motivation in making His covenant with Abraham (and one which has never changed, from the creation of the different peoples in Genesis 11 to their gathering before the throne of glory), i.e.: to bless all peoples through Abraham, and ultimately through his seed, the Son of God. In order to provide a defined venue through which to bring this seed of blessing, God (1) sovereignly chose the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the sons of which last (v.6) He created “a people for His own possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6; that this choice was based on God’s grace along is made by Paul in Romans 9:8, where “of the flesh” refers to the customary right of the firstborn [which neither Isaac nor Jacob were]), and (2) sovereignly giving them a land—i.e., the land of Canaan (v.11)—as their everlasting inheritance (v.11; that the land is an everlasting inheritance of ethnic Israel follows logically from the fact that the Abrahamic Covenant under which it was promised is “an everlasting covenant” [v.10]; cf. also Genesis 17:7-8). — Wechsler, pages 249-250.

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A Praise to the God of the Abrahamic Covenant for Preserving His People Outside of Their Land (vs.12-38). In addition to entailing their creation as a distinct people, God’s covenant with Abraham also entails their preservation as a people—regardless of whether or not they conduct themselves in a manner worthy of their being called His people (vs.24, 43). Indeed, God’s covenant promise of blessing entailed not only that He would bless all families of the earth through Israel, but also, by virtue of their being His “chosen ones (so vs.6 and 43), that He would bring blessing directly to Israel as a people (see Genesis 12:2b-3). How God blessed Israel during the initial years of their nation existence is thus the focus of the present section—specifically, how, even when they were outside of their homeland for a period of about four hundred years— God provided for and protected them. — Wechsler, pages 250-251.

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A Praise to the God of the Abrahamic Covenant for Establishing His People Within Their Land (vs. 39-45). The psalmist closes by reflecting on God’s faithfulness in restoring His people to their land… which blessing was expressed not only by the giving of land alone, but also by His giving them a land already prepared to live in by the labor of (the Canaanite) peoples (v.44; cf. Deuteronomy 6:10-11). — Wechsler, page 251.

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