Psalm 105 — 106
Barnea (refusing to enter the land). After all, the purpose of the psalm was to magnify God's great works, not to expose man's great failures. God kept the promise He made to Abraham and gave his descendants the land, helping Joshua and his army defeat the enemy on every side. The people of Israel claimed their inheritance, including the wealth they took from the former inhabitants, another payment for their service in Egypt. "Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass" (Josh. 21:45; and see 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56; Neh. 9:8). God's people live on promises, not explanations, and it is "through faith and patience" that we see these promises fulfilled (Heb. 6:12). But God's keeping His promise meant much more for Israel than victory over the enemy and the acquisition of riches. It meant accepting the responsibility of obeying the God who had been so faithful to them. Before his death, Joshua reminded the people what the Lord had done for them and admonished them to serve the Lord and not turn to idols (Josh. 24:1–28). When we consider all that the Lord has done for us, we find we have the same obligation.
Exodus reports that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex. 7:13–14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34–35; 13:15) but also that God hardened it (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17). God sent the plagues, but Pharaoh would not obey. The same sun that melts the ice will harden the clay.
Moses—God's Awesome Judgments (vv. 26–41) Again, God had His servants prepared to take Israel through another crisis. The ten plagues were both a demonstration of the power of the God of Israel and a condemnation of the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12; 18:11; Num. 33:4). Egypt worshipped the sun, so God sent three days of darkness. The Nile River was a god, so God turned the water to blood. The Egyptians worshipped over eighty different gods and goddesses, all of whom were helpless to deliver the land from the onslaught of the plagues, the judgments that God pronounced (v. 5). Jehovah proved that they were false gods who could do nothing.
The psalmist began his list with the plague of darkness (v. 28), which was actually the ninth plague. After mentioning this plague, the writer stayed with the original sequence: water turned to blood, and the invasions of frogs, flies, and gnats. He omits the fifth and six plagues—the death of the livestock and the boils—and moves on to the hail, locusts, and the death of the firstborn on Passover night. What a demonstration of the awesome power of Jehovah! This led to the triumphant exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, like a victorious army carrying the spoils of battle (v. 37; Ex. 3:21–22; 11:1–3; 12:36–37; Gen. 15:14). This wealth was payment for the slave labor that the Jews had provided for many years. God went before His people, led them by a cloud (78:14; Ex. 13:21–22; 14:19–20), opened the sea for them to pass through, and then closed the waters and drowned the Egyptian army. It was "a night of solemn observance to the Lord" (Ex. 12:42 nkjv). But the Lord did not abandon His people after He delivered them, for He had brought them out that He might bring them into the Promised Land (Deut. 4:37–38). He led them in the wilderness, sheltered them from the sun, fed them bread (manna) and meat, and provided water to drink. (See Ex. 16; 17; Num. 20.) "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (23:1). Remembering God's deliverance and His care of His people would give courage to the Jewish remnant as they returned to Judah to reestablish the nation. God remembers His covenant (v. 8), and God's people must remember the Lord and what He has done.