Bible Commentaries
Psalms 105

Verses 1-45

This and the following psalm are companions. They reveal the two sides of the relation between God and His people during a long period. This one sings the song of His faithfulness and power; while the next tells the sad story of repeated failure and rebellion on the part of His people.

In singing His praise the psalmist opens with an appeal which recognises the responsibility of those who have been recipients of blessing. The words, “Make known His doings among the peoples” reveal this. The leaders and singers of these people repeated this message of responsibility with almost monotonous reiteration, and yet it was not obeyed. In order that the doings of God may be proclaimed, he calls upon men to “remember,” and he proceeds to trace the Divine hand in their history. First, he goes back to the ancient covenant, and sings of how God cared for them while they were few in number in the land, rebuking kings for their sakes.

The follows a recognition of the government of God as overruling even what appeared so disastrous a matter as the famine. Through that, Joseph was given his opportunity, and the people were brought into Egypt, for the time being a place of quietness and increase.

The master word in the psalm is the pronoun “He.” In constant repetition it shows the one thought uppermost in the mind of the singer. It is that of perpetual activity of God in all those experiences through which His people have passed. Verse Psa 105:23 commences with a statement which is almost startling - “He turned their heart to hate His people.” Yet this is a recognition of the fact that circumstances which appeared to be most disastrous, were nevertheless all under His government. It was a baptism of suffering which toughened the fibre of the national life, and prepared for all that lay ahead.

Then the singer passes in review God’s wonderful deliverance of them from Egypt, until a graphic sentence he writes, “Egypt was glad when they departed.” Finally the song speaks of the bringing of them into possession of the land. It is a noble song of the might of God, and of His fidelity to His people. With unswerving loyalty to His covenant, in spite of all difficulties, and by means of suffering as well as joy, He moved in their history ever onward. Such a song is prophecy, in its function of interpreting history, and revealing the orderliness in the economy of God, of days and events which seem to be the most calamitous.