This historical Psalm was evidently composed by King David, for Psalm 105:1-15 of it were used as a hymn at the carrying up of the ark from the house of Obed-edom, and we read in 1 Chronicles 16:7. "Then on that day David delivered first this Psalm, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren." Such a song was suitable for the occasion, for it describes the movements of the Lord's people and his guardian care over them in every place, and all this on account of the covenant of which the ark; then removing, was a symbol. Our last Psalm sang the opening chapters of Genesis, and this takes up its closing chapters and conducts us into Exodus and Numbers.

The first verses are full of joyful praise, and call upon the people to extol Jehovah. Psalm 105:1-7; then the earliest days of the infant nation are described, Psalm 105:8-15; the going into Egypt, Psalm 105:16-23, the coming forth from it with the Lord's outstretched arm, Psalm 105:24-38, the journeying through the wilderness and the entrance into Canaan.

We are now among the long Psalms, as at other times we have been among the short ones. These varying lengths of the sacred poems should teach us not to lay down any law either of brevity or prolixity in either prayer or praise. Short petitions and single verses of hymns are often the best for public occasions, but there are seasons when a whole night of wrestling or an entire day of Psalm singing will be none too long. The Spirit is ever free in his operations, and is not to be confined within the rules of conventional propriety. The wind bloweth as it listeth, and at one time rushes in short and rapid sweep, while at another it continues to refresh the earth hour after hour with its reviving breath.

Hints to Preachers

Psalm 105:1. -

I. Praise God for former mercies.

II. Pray for further mercies.

III. Publish his famous mercies.

Psalm 105:1-5. - A series of holy exercises. "Give thanks" - "call upon his name" - "make known" - "sing" - "talk" - "glory" - "rejoice" - "seek" - "remember."

Psalm 105:2. -

I. The pleasure of talking to God - "Sing," etc.; making melody in the heart.

II. The duty of talking of God. - "Talk ye," etc. - G. R.

Psalm 105:2. - The Christian's table-talk.

Psalm 105:3. -

I. Those who find: or - "glory ye," etc.

II. Those who seek: or - "rejoice."

Psalm 105:3 (second clause). - Let the seeker rejoice that there is such a God to seek, that he invites us to seek, that he moves us to seek, enables us to seek, and promises to be found of us. The tendency of the seeker is to despond, but there are many grounds of comfort.

Psalm 105:4. - How can we seek the Lord's strength?

I. By desiring to be subject to it.

II. By being supported by it.

III. By being equipped with it for service.

IV. By seeing its results upon others.

Psalm 105:4. - Threefold seeking.

I. The Lord for mercy.

II. His strength for service.

III. His face for happiness. - A. G. Brown.

Psalm 105:4 (last clause). - Seeking the Lord the perpetual occupation of a believer.

Psalm 105:5. - Themes for memory.

I. What God has done.

II. What he has said.

Psalm 105:5 and Psalm 105:8. - Our memory and God's memory. "Remember." "He hath remembered."

Psalm 105:7. - God's relation to his elect and to all mankind.

Psalm 105:9, Psalm 105:10. - The making, swearing, and confirming of the covenant. See our comment on these verses with the passages referred to.

Psalm 105:12. - Comfort to the few. The typical and Spiritual Israel few at first. A few in the ark peopled the world. Small companies have done wonders. Christ's presence is promised to two or three. God saveth not by many or by few, etc.

Psalm 105:13, Psalm 105:14. -

I. God's people may be often removed.

II. They can never be injured.

III. God's property in them will not be renounced.

Psalm 105:14, Psalm 105:15. - Dr. T. Goodwin has an excellent sermon on these verses, entitled "The Interest of England," in which he condenses the history of the world, to show, that those nations which have persecuted and afflicted the people of God have invariably been broken in pieces. - (Goodwin's Works, vol. xii. pp. 34-60, Nichol's edition).

Psalm 105:15. - In what respect Abraham was a prophet, and how far believers are the same.

Psalm 105:16. -

I. All things come at the call of God. He called for plenty, and it came; for famine, and it came; for captivity, and it came; for deliverance, and it came.

II. The most unlikely means of accomplishing an end with man is often the direct way with God. He fulfilled the promise of Canaan to Abraham by banishing him from it; of plenty, by sending a famine; of freedom, by bringing into captivity. - C. R.

Psalm 105:19. - The duration of our troubles, the testing power of the promise, the comfortable issue which is secured to us.

Psalm 105:24. - Church prosperity desirable. Increase of numbers, increase of rigour. Attainable under great persecution and opposition. Divine in its origin - "he increased." Satisfactory as a test - it is only true of "his people."

Psalm 105:24 (second clause). - In what respects grace can make believers stronger than their enemies.

Psalm 105:25. -

I. The natural hatred of the world to the church.

II. God's permitting it to be shown. When? Why?

III. The subtle manner in which this enmity seeks its object.

Psalm 105:32. - "He gave them hail for rain." Judgment substituted for mercy.

Psalm 105:37 (first clause). - Wealth found upon us after affliction.

Psalm 105:37 (second clause). - A consummation to be desired. This was the direct result of the divine presence. The circumstances out of which it grew were hard labour and persecution. It enabled them to leave Egypt, to Journey far, to carry burdens, to fight enemies, etc.

Psalm 105:39. -

I. A dark cloud of providence is the guide of the people of God by day.

II. A bright cloud of promises is their guide by night. - G. R.

Psalm 105:39. - The Lord's goodness exemplified in our varying conditions.

I. For prosperity - a cloud.

II. For adversity - a light. A good text would be found in "light in the night."

Psalm 105:40. -

I. God often gives in love what is not asked. So the bread from heaven which was beyond all they could ask or think.

II. He sometimes gives in anger what is asked. They asked for flesh to eat - "and he brought quails."

Psalm 105:41. - We have,

I. A type of the person of Christ, in the rock.

1. Unsightly as Horeb - "When we shall see him, there is no beauty," etc. (Isaiah 53:2).

2. Firm and immovable - "Who is a rock, save our God?" (2 Samuel 21:32).

II. A type of the sufferings of Christ, in the smitten rock.

1. Smitten by the rod of the Law.

2. Smitten to the heart.

III. A type of the benefits of Christ, in the water flowing from the rock - pure, refreshing, perpetual, abundant. - James Bennett, 1828.

Psalm 105:41. -

I. The miraculous energy of God's grace in the conversion of a sinner: "He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out."

II. The effect in relation to others, which demonstrates at once the excellence and the reality of the miracle in ourselves: "They ran in the dry places like a river." - Thomas Dale, 1836.

Psalm 105:41. -

I. The grand source - the rock opened.

II. The liberal stream - "gushed out."

III. The continued flow - in dry places.

Psalm 105:42. -

I. The Lord mindful of his promise.

II. The Lord mindful of our persons.

III. The Lord working wonders as the result of both.

Psalm 105:45. - Obedience to God the design of his mercies to us.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Whole Psalm

This is the first of a series of "Confitemini Domino" Psalms, "O give thanks unto the Lord" (Psalm 105:1; Psalm 106:1; Psalm 107:1; Psalm 118:1; and Psalm 136:1). - Christopher Wordsworth.

Whole Psalm

The 105th Psalm is a meditation on the covenant as performed on the part of God, Psalm 106:1 on the covenant as kept by Israel. They both dwell on the predestinating will of God, electing men to holiness and obedience, and the mode in which human sin opposes itself to that will, and yet cannot make it void. - Plain Commentary.

Psalm 105:1-15

The first fifteen verses were written at the bringing up of the Ark, 1 Chronicles 16. They tell that it is sovereign grace that ruleth over all - it is a sovereign God. Out of a fallen world he takes whom he pleases - individuals, families, nations. He chose Israel long ago, that they might be the objects of grace, and their land the theatre of its display. He will yet again return to Israel, when the days of his Kingdom of Glory draw near; and Israel shall have a full share - the very fullest and richest - in his blessings, temporal and spiritual. - Andrew A. Bonar.

Psalm 105:1

"Call upon his name." The original meaning of this phrase is call (him) by his name, i.e., give him the descriptive title most expressive of his divine perfections; or more specifically, call him by his name Jehovah, i.e., ascribe to him the attributes which it denotes, to wit, eternity and self-existence, together with that covenant relation to his people, which though not denoted by the name was constantly associated with it, and therefore necessarily suggested by it. The meaning of the next phrase is obscured, if not entirely concealed in the common version, "among the people." The plural form and sense of the original expression are essential to the writer's purpose, which is to glorify the God of Israel among the nations. - Joseph Addison Alexander.

Psalm 105:1

"Make known his deeds among the people." The people of God were not shut up in that narrow corner of the earth for the purpose of confining within their straitened territories the true knowledge and worship of God: but God wished that to be the fixed seat of the church, from which the sound of heavenly doctrine should go forth into all nations. Therefore he chose Canaan, which is interjected among the most powerful nations of the World, that from it as from a fountain might more easily issue the doctrine of God to the rest of the nations: as Isaiah says, "Out of Zion shall go forth the law." - Mollerus.

Psalm 105:2

"Talk ye of all his wondrous works," נפלאתין niphleothaiv, "of his miracles." Who have so many of these to boast of as Christians! Christianity is a tissue of miracles; and every part of the work of grace on the soul is a miracle. Genuine Christian converts may talk of miracles from morning to night; and they should talk of them, and recommend to others their miracle-working God and Saviour. - Adam Clarke.

Psalm 105:2

"Sing"...."talk," etc. Music and conversation are two things by which the mind of man receiveth much good, or a great deal of harm. They who make "Jehovah" and his "wondrous works" the subjects of both, enjoy a heaven upon earth. And they who do in reality love the Saviour, will always find themselves inclined to "sing to him," and to "talk of him." - George Horne.

Psalm 105:2

"Sing Psalms." It is not sufficient to offer the empty vessel of our joy unto God, or our singing voice in musical tune only; but also it is required that we fill our joyful voice with holy matter and good purpose, whereby God only may be reasonably praised: "Sing Psalms unto him." - David Dickson.

Psalm 105:2

"Sing Psalms." Psalmody is the calm of the soul, the repose of the spirit, the arbiter of peace. It silences the wave, and conciliates the whirlwind of our passions, soothing the impetuous, tempering the unchaste. It is an engenderer of friendship, a healer of dissension, a reconciler of enemies. For who can longer count him his enemy, with whom to the throne of God he hath raised the strain? Psalmody repels the demons, and lures the ministry of angels. It is a weapon of defence in nightly terrors and a respite from daily toil. To the infant it is a presiding genius; to manhood a crown of glory; a balm of comfort to the aged; a congenial ornament to women. - Basil.

Psalm 105:4

"Seek the Lord, and be strengthened"; so divers ancient versions read it. They that would be "strengthened in the inward man," must fetch in strength from God by faith and prayer. "Seek his strength," and then seek his face; for by his strength we hope to prevail with him for his favour, as Jacob did, Hosea 12:3. "Seek his face evermore," i.e., seek to have his favour to eternity, and therefore continue seeking it to the end of the time of your probation. Seek it while you live in this world, and you shall have it while you live in the other world, and even there shall be for ever seeking it, in an infinite progression, and yet be for ever satisfied in it. - Matthew Henry.

Psalm 105:4

"His strength." In classical language, his aegis, or protection, his ark, the symbol of the divine presence. - John Mason Good.

Psalm 105:4

1 O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people.

2 Sing unto him, sing Psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.

3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.

4 Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth:

6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.

7 He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in all the earth.

Psalm 105:1

"O give thanks unto the Lord." Jehovah is the author of all our benefits, therefore let him have all our gratitude. "Call upon his name," or call him by his name; proclaim his titles and fill the world with his renown. "Make known his deeds among the people," or among the nations. Let the heathen hear of our God, that they may forsake their idols and learn to worship him. The removal of the ark was a fit occasion for proclaiming aloud the glories of the Great King, and for publishing to all mankind the greatness of his doings, for it had a history in connection with the nations, which it was well for them to remember with reverence. The rest of the Psalm is a sermon, of which these first verses constitute the text.

Psalm 105:2

"Sing unto him." Bring your best thoughts and express them in the best language to the sweetest sounds. Take care that your singing is "unto him," and not merely for the sake of the music or to delight the ears of others. Singing is so delightful an exercise that it is a pity so much of it should be wasted upon trifles or worse than trifles. O ye who can emulate the nightingale, and almost rival the angels, we do most earnestly pray that your hearts may be renewed that so your floods of melody may be poured out at your Maker's and Redeemer's feet. "Talk ye of all his wondrous works." Men love to speak of marvels, and others are generally glad to hear of surprising things; surely the believer in the living God has before him the most amazing series of wonders ever heard of or imagined, his themes are inexhaustible and they are such as should hold men spellbound. We ought to have more of this "talk": no one would be blamed as a Mr. Talkative if this were his constant theme. Talk ye, all of you: you all know something by experience of the marvellous loving-kindness of the Lord - "talk ye." In this way, by all dwelling on this blessed subject, "all" his wondrous works will be published. One cannot do it, nor ten thousand times ten thousand, but if all speak to the Lord's honour, they will at least come nearer to accomplishing the deed. We ought to have a wide range when conversing upon the Lord's doings, and should not shut our eyes to any part of them. Talk ye of his wondrous works in creation and in grace, in judgment and in mercy, in providential interpositions and in spiritual comfortings; leave out none, or it will be to your damage. Obedience to this verse will give every sanctified tongue some work to do: the trained musicians can sing, and the commoner voices can talk, and in both ways the Lord will receive a measure of the thanks due to him, and his deeds will be made known among the people.

Psalm 105:3

"Glory ye in his holy name." Make it a matter of joy that you have such a God. His character and attributes are such as will never make you blush to call him your God. Idolaters may well be ashamed of the actions attributed to their fancied deities, their names are foul with lust and red with blood, but Jehovah is wholly glorious; every deed of his will bear the strictest scrutiny; his name is holy, his character is holy, his law is holy, his government is holy, his influence is holy. In all this we may make our boast, nor can any deny our right to do so. "Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord." If they have not yet found him so fully as they desire, yet even to be allowed and enabled to seek after such a God is cause for gladness. To worship the Lord and seek his kingdom and righteousness is the sure way to happiness, and indeed there is no other. True seekers throw their hearts into the engagement, hence their hearts receive joy; according to the text they have a permit to rejoice and they have the promise that they shall do so. How gladsome all these sentences are! Where can men's ears be when they talk of the gloom of Psalm-singing? What worldly songs are fuller of real mirth? One hears the sound of the timbrel and the harp in every verse. Even seekers find bliss in the name of the Lord Jesus, but as for the finders, we may say with the poet,

And those who find thee find a bliss,

continued...

8 He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

9 Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;

10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:

11 Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:

12 When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.

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

14 He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;

15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Psalm 105:8

"He hath remembered his covenant for ever." Here is the basis of all his dealings with his people; he had entered into covenant with them in their father Abraham, and to this covenant he remained faithful. The exhortation to remember (in Psalm 105:5) receives great force from the fact that God has remembered. If the Lord has his promise in memory, surely we ought not to forget the wonderful manner in which he keeps it. To us it should be matter for deepest joy that never in any instance has the Lord been unmindful of his covenant engagements, nor will he be so world without end. O that we were as mindful of them as he is. "The word which he commanded to a thousand generations." This is only an amplification of the former statement, and serves to set before us the immutable fidelity of the Lord during the changing generations of men. His judgments are threatened upon the third and fourth generations of them that hate him, but its love runs on for ever, even to "a thousand generations." His promise is here said to be commanded, or vested with all the authority of a law. It is proclamation from a sovereign, the firman of an Emperor, whose laws shall stand fast in every jot and tittle though heaven and earth shall pass away. Therefore let us give thanks unto the Lord and talk of all his wondrous works, so wonderful for their faithfulness and truth.

Psalm 105:9

"Which covenant he made with Abraham." When the victims were divided and the burning lamp passed between the pieces (Genesis 15.) then the Lord made, or ratified, the covenant with the patriarch. This was a solemn deed, performed not without blood, and the cutting in pieces of the sacrifice: it points us to the greater covenant which in Christ Jesus is signed, sealed, and ratified, that it may stand fast for ever and ever. "And his oath unto Isaac." Isaac did not in vision see the solemn making of the covenant, but the Lord renewed unto him his oath (Genesis 26:2-5). This was enough for him, and must have established his faith in the Most High. We have the privilege of seeing in our Lord Jesus both the sacrificial seal, and the eternal oath of God, by which every promise of the covenant is made yea and amen to all the chosen seed.

Psalm 105:10

"And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law." Jacob in his wondrous dream (Genesis 28:10-15) received a pledge that the Lord's mode of procedure with him would be in accordance with covenant relations; for said Jehovah, "I will not leave thee till I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Thus, if we may so speak with all reverence, the covenant became a law unto the Lord himself by which he bound himself to act. O matchless condescension, that the most free and sovereign Lord should put himself under covenant bonds to his chosen, and make a law for himself, though he is above all law. "And to Israel for an everlasting covenant." When he changed Jacob's name he did not change his covenant, but it is written, "he blessed him there" (Genesis 32:29), and it was with the old blessing, according to the unchangeable word of abiding grace.

continued...

16 Moreover he called for a famine upon the land; he brake the whole staff of bread.

17 He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:

18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron:

19 Until the time that his word came; the word of the Lord tried him.

20 The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.

21 He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:

22 To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom. 23 Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

The presence of God having remained with his chosen ones while they sojourned in Canaan, it did not desert them when they were called to go down into Egypt. They did not go there of their own choice, but under divine direction, and hence the Lord prepared their way and prospered them until he saw fit to conduct them again to the land of promise.

Psalm 105:16

"Moreover he called for a famine upon the land." He had only to call for it as a man calls for his servant, and it came at once. How grateful ought we to be that he does not often call in that terrible servant of his, so meagre and gaunt, and grim, so pitiless to the women and the children, so bitter to the strong men, who utterly fail before it. "He brake the whole staff of bread." Man's feeble life cannot stand without its staff - if bread fail him he fails. As a cripple with a broken staff falls to the ground, so does man when bread no longer sustains him. To God it is as easy to make a famine as to break a staff. He could make that famine universal, too, so that all countries should be in like case; then would the race of man fall indeed, and its staff would be broken for ever. There is this sweet comfort in the matter, that the Lord has wise ends to serve even by famine: he meant his people to go down into Egypt, and the scarcity of food was his method of leading them there, for "they heard that there was corn in Egypt."

Psalm 105:17

"He sent a man before them, even Joseph." He was the advance guard and pioneer for the whole clan. His brethren sold him, but God sent him. Where the hand of the wicked is visible God's hand may be invisibly at work, overruling their malice. No one was more of a man, or more fit to lead the van than Joseph, an interpreter of dreams was wanted, and his brethren had said of him, "Behold, this dreamer cometh." "Who was sold for a servant," or rather for a slave. Joseph's journey into Egypt was not so costly as Jonah's voyage when he paid his own fare, his free passage was provided by the Midianites, who also secured his introduction to a great officer of state by handing him over as a slave. His way to a position in which he could feed his family lay through the pit, the slaver's caravan, the slave market and the prison, and who shall deny but what it was the right way, the surest way, the wisest way, and perhaps the shortest way. Yet assuredly it seemed not so. Were we to send a man on such an errand we should furnish him with money - Joseph goes as a pauper; we should clothe him with authority - Joseph goes as a slave; we should leave him at full liberty - Joseph is a bondman: yet money would have been of little use when corn was so dear, authority would have been irritating rather than influential with Pharaoh, and freedom might not have thrown Joseph into connection with Pharaoh's captain and his other servants, and so the knowledge of his skill in interpretation might not have reached the monarch's ear. God's way is the way. Our Lord's path to his mediatorial throne ran by the cross of. Calvary; our road to glory runs by the rivers of grief.

Psalm 105:18

"Whose feet they hurt with letters." From this we learn a little more of Joseph's sufferings than we find in the book of Genesis: inspiration had not ceased, and David was as accurate an historian as Moses, for the same Spirit guided his pen. "He was laid in iron;" or "into iron came his soul." The prayer book version, "the iron entered into his soul," is ungrammatical, but probably expresses much the same truth. His fetters hurt his mind as well as his body, and well did Jacob say, "The archers shot at him, and sorely grieved him." Under the cruelly false accusation, which he could not disprove, his mind was, as it were, belted and bolted around with iron, and had not the Lord been with him he might have sunk under his sufferings. In all this, and a thousand things besides, he was an admirable type of him who in the highest sense is "the Shepherd, the stone of Israel." The iron fetters were preparing him to wear chains of gold, and making his feet ready to stand on high places. It is even so with all the Lord's afflicted ones, they too shall one day step from their prisons to their thrones.

continued...

24 And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.

25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.

26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen.

27 They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.

29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.

30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.

31 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts. 32 He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land.

33 He smote their vines also and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.

34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars, and that without number,

35 And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.

36 He smote also all the firstborn in their land; the chief of all their strength.

37 He brought them forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.

38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them fell upon them.

continued...

39 He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.

40 The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the of heaven.

41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry like a river.

42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.

43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:

44 And gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people;

45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 105:39

"He spread a cloud for a covering." Never people Were so favoured. What would not travellers in the desert now give for such a canopy? The sun could not scorch them with its burning ray; their whole camp was screened like a king in his pavilion. Nothing seemed to be too good for God to give his chosen nation, their comfort was studied in every way. "And fire to give light in the night." While cities were swathed in darkness, their town of tents enjoyed a light which modern art with all its appliances cannot equal. God himself was their sun and shield, their glory and their defence. Could they be unbelieving while so graciously shaded, or rebellious while they walked at midnight in such a light? Alas, the tale of their sin is as extraordinary as this story of his love; but this Psalm selects the happier theme and dwells only upon covenant love and faithfulness. O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good. We, too, have found the Lord all this to us, for he has been our sun and shield, and has preserved us alike from the perils of ivys and the evils of grief;

"He hath been my joy in woe,

Cheered my heart when it was low;

And with warnings softly sad

Calm'd my heart when it was glad."

So has the promise been fulfilled to us, "the sun shall not hurt thee by day, nor the moon by night."

continued...