Psalm 106 — 107
they disobeyed it. Instead of destroying the godless society of the nations in Canaan as God commanded (Num. 33:50–56; Deut. 7:12–26; 20:16–18), the Israelites gradually compromised with them and then imitated them, including the inhumane practices that defiled the land God gave them (Lev. 18:24–28; Num. 35:30–34; Deut. 21:22–23; Jer. 3:1–10). They had been "married" to Jehovah at Sinai, but now they prostituted themselves to idols and grieved the Lord, inviting His chastening. The Lord brought six nations against Israel and for over one hundred years punished His people right in their own land. When they cried out to Him for mercy, He heard them and raised up judges to deliver them from their enemies; but then the nation lapsed into idolatry again, and the cycle was repeated. In His mercy, the Lord heard their cries and forgave them (Judg. 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6–7; 10:10; Lev. 26:40–42), but this could not go on forever.
"pleasant [beautiful] land" (v. 24; Jer. 3:19; 12:10) and a "good land" (Deut. 8:7–9), but ten of the twelve spies reported that Canaan was a dangerous land filled with giants, high-walled cities, and formidable armies. The people reverted to their usual crisis mode of weeping, complaining, and planning to return to Egypt (Num. 14:1–10). The Lord announced that the generation twenty years and older would all die in the wilderness during the next thirty-eight years, and then He sent a plague that killed the ten unbelieving spies. What should have been a triumphant victory march became a tragic funeral march. That is what happens when we want our own way and refuse to trust the Lord and obey Him.
Costly Disobedience (vv. 28–33) These two events occurred toward the end of Israel's march through the wilderness, and both of them illustrate the high cost of willful disobedience to the Lord. The failure at Baal Peor is described in Numbers 25, but read Numbers 22–24 to get the background. The king of Moab hired the prophet Baalam to curse the nation of Israel, but God turned his curses into blessings (Deut. 23:5; Neh. 13:2; see 109:28). But Baalam knew how to trap Israel: he suggested that the king act like a good neighbor and invite the Jewish tribal leaders to share a feast with the Moabites. This would be a religious feast, of course, which meant eating meat dedicated to demons and dead people and cohabiting with cult prostitutes. Once more, the people of God yielded to their fleshly desires and tasted the wrath of God, and 24,000 people died (Num. 25:9). The plague would have claimed more lives, but Phinehas, the son of the high priest, killed a Jewish man and his Moabite partner as they arrogantly sinned in the camp of Israel. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). (On v. 30, see Gen. 15:6 and Rom. 4.)
Final Discipline (v. 47) In His covenant, the Lord warned that if Israel continued to resist and disobey, even after experiencing His chastening, He would take them out of their land and scatter them (Lev. 26:27–39; Deut. 28:48–68). First, the kingdom was divided between the ten tribes of Israel (the northern kingdom) and the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah (the southern kingdom). In 722 BC, the Assyrians captured Israel and absorbed the ten tribes into their own empire. In 606–586 BC, the Babylonians invaded Judah, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and took the best of the people captive to Babylon. The Jewish people were rooted out of their own "beautiful land" and scattered among the nations. The Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC and the next year Cyrus decreed that the Jews could return to their land. However, the Davidic dynasty was not restored in their kingdom. The psalmist closed with a prayer that the scattered children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would one day be gathered together so that they might worship Jehovah and give glory to His name.
The second demonstration of carnality was seen in Moses, not a sin of the flesh but of the spirit: he became proud and angry and took for himself the glory that belonged only to the Lord (Num. 20:1–13). Provoked by the people, the "pride of life" possessed Moses and he lost his temper and spoke rash words that offended the Lord (78:40; Isa. 63:10; 1 John 2:15–17). This sin cost Moses the privilege of leading the people into the Promised Land (Deut. 3:23–29). "Meribah" means "quarreling" (see Ex. 17:1–7).
The last verse, written by an ancient editor, brings to a close the Fourth Book of the Psalms.
End Notes Book IV 24 Heb. 4:7 ascribes this psalm to David. The NIV and NASB both read "through David," while the KJV and NKJV both read "in David," that is, "in the Psalter." This is the preferable translation.
Repeated Rebellion (vv. 34–46) God in His grace took His people into Canaan and gave them victory over the nations living there. The twelve tribes claimed their inheritance and settled down to enjoy the land and serve the Lord. They were faithful all during the leadership of Joshua and the elders that he selected and trained, but when the third generation came along, they compromised and began to serve the false gods of their defeated enemies (Judg. 2:7–23). The people knew the terms of the covenant that Moses had given them (Lev. 26; Deut. 28–30), but