Psalms 105 - 106 (with 2 topics)

Psalm 105 Per the Septuagint, the last phrase of Psa 104, Praise the LORD (Heb., Hallelu YAH) is actually the beginning of Psa 105:

• Give thanks to the LORD, call on HIS Name; make known among the nations what HE has done. Sing to HIM, sing praise to HIM; tell of all HIS Wonderful Acts. Glory in HIS Holy Name; let the hearts of Those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD & HIS Strength; seek HIS Face always.
• Remember the wonders HE has done, HIS Miracles, & the judgment HE pronounced, O descendants of Abraham HIS Servant, O sons of Jacob, HIS Chosen Ones. HE is the LORD Our GOD; HIS Judgments are in all the earth.

  HE remembers HIS Covenant forever, the word HE commanded, for 1000 generations,

• the covenant HE made with Abraham,
• the oath HE swore to Isaac.
• HE confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, & to Israel as an everlasting covenant; To You I will give the land of Canaan as the portion You will inherit.

  When, beginning with Abraham, They were but few in number, few indeed, & strangers in it,

• They wandered from nation to nation, from 1 kingdom to another, from 1 kingdom to another.
• HE allowed no 1 to oppress Them; for Their sake HE rebuked kings: Do not touch MY Anointed Ones; do MY Prophets no harm.
• HE called down famine on the land & destroyed all their supplies of food; &
• HE sent a man before Them-- Joseph, sold as a slave into Egypt. They bruised His feet with shackles, His neck was put in irons, till what He foretold came to pass, till the Word of the LORD proved Him true. The king sent & released Him, the rulers of the people set Him free. He made Him master of his household, ruler over all that he possessed, to instruct his princes as He pleased & teach his elders wisdom.

 Then Israel entered Egypt-- Jacob still lived as an alien in the land of Ham.

• The LORD made HIS People very fruitful;
• whose (Egypt's) heart HE turned to hate HIS People, to conspire against HIS Servants.

  HE sent Moses HIS Servant, & Aaron whom HE had chosen. Exo 4:14; 7:1 says that God chose Aaron to be Your (Moses') prophet. They performed HIS Miraculous Signs among them, including HIS Wonders to Jacob in the land of Ham. In Egypt:

• HE sent darkness (made the air dark) & made the land dark [compromised-- see Isa 5;30; 9:2; (& especially) 45:19]-- for had they not rebelled against HIS Words?
• HE turned their water into blood, causing their fish to die. Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into (invaded the privacy of) the bedrooms of their rulers-- dashing progeny.
• HE spoke, & there came swarms of flies, & gnats throughout their country-- escape for frivolity could not be found.
• HE turned their rain, a blessing, into hail, a curse, with lightening throughout their land-- evidently he spoke to the whole nation;
• HE struck down their vines & fig trees & shattered the trees of their country-- he dealt with their present livelihood.
• HE spoke, & the locusts came, grasshoppers without number-- Forget about your livelihood regenerating; they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil.
• Then HE struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of their manhood-- speaking to any clinging to the belief, 'It be that way sometimes'.

  HE brought out Israel, laden with silver & gold, & from among Their tribes no 1 faltered-- though later many used this silver & gold, intended so the nation could bargain in the promised land, for their egos, the earrings being precious memories-- which some did relinquish, to construct an image of a idol.

• Egypt was so very glad when They left, because all optimism for their future had been replaced by dread of Israel which had fallen on them.
• HE spread out a cloud as a covering, a figure of the future O.T. gold-covered ark of the covenant mentioned in Hebr 9:4, & a fire to give light at night.
• They asked, & HE brought Them quail & satisfied Them with the bread of Heaven (manna). Upon command Moses struck a rock with his staff--
• HE opened the rock, & water gushed out-- see Num 20:11 (s.a. Psa 78:20; Isa48:21); but per John 19:34, when Jesus was pierced on the cross, there was a sudden flow of blood & water; like a river of life it flowed in the desert.

  For HE remembered HIS Holy Promise given to HIS Servant Abraham.

• HE brought out HIS People with rejoicing, HIS Chosen Ones with shouts of joy; a generation later:
• HE gave Them the lands of the nations & made them into a nation, & They fell heir to what the others had toiled for-- that They may keep HIS Precepts & observe HIS Laws.

  Contrariwise, Jesus always reaps what he has sown through us-- though some deem him (as in the parable of the loaned money of Matt 25:14-30) a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown. E.g. as in the parable (Matt 21:33-46) of the wicked tenants, where the landowner had planted a vineyard before he rented to some tenants & went on a journey-- the tenants tended the vineyard &, thinking it of no import that the landowner had originally sown, then killed the son, the heir of the landowner when the heir attempted to collect what his father had sown.

  Praise the LORD.

1. Contrast #6-- Hair-length Men vs. women As can be seen from Psalm Topics & Other Topics, there is a variety of special topics covered. Some of them: Contrasts, Transitions, Men used-of-God & Women used-of-God. Contrasts portray stark differences, transitions portray smooth changes (not abolishments); whereas no comparisons are portrayed in Men/Women used-of-God (rather the idea is that God chooses to use either/both as HE wishes. However, we have a relatively nominal difference in this contrast: 1stCor 11:3-16 says, the head of every man is Christ, & the head of the woman is man, & the head of Christ is GOD. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head-- it is as though her head were shaved (for if the hair is short-- the head might just as well be entirely shaved). Thus they dishonor God, for in Mark 12:30 & Luke 10:27 Jesus quoted Deu 6:4-5, 'Hear, O Israel: the LORD Our GOD is 1. Love the LORD Your GOD with all Your heart & with all Your soul & with all Your mind & with all Your strength.' A man ought not to cover His head with long hair, since he is the Image of GOD & Glory of GOD; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman-- he was created by God, but rather woman from man-- via a rib from him. For this reason, & because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head-- like maybe a head covering. In the LORD (Among Christians), a head covering is unnecessary-- however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man (became Christians via the ministry of brothers), so also man is born of woman (sisters-- recall how Many women supported Jesus out of Their means). But everything comes from GOD. Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray or prophesy with her head uncovered? And: Does not the very nature of things teach You that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is Her glory? For long hair is given to Her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, We have no other practice-- nor do the Churches of GOD.

2. Contrast #7-- Dealing with enemies HIM dealing w/ HIS enemies vs. us dealing w/ our enemies We've already looked at that 2nd part (our dealing with our enemies now) several times-- Psalm 38 Transition #1 Love-boundary; Psalm 84 Transition #2 Mosaic Law & The 10 Commandments; Psalm 94 Remaining #3 4.. Now we look at the 1st part-- HIS dealing (the huge difference is the matter of HIS timing vs. our timing). Let us consider 1 of Jesus' parables, The Parable of the Weeds (spiritual enemies of God-- categorically not our physical enemies). The temporal physical enemies of God distinctly pose no threat to HIS creation, as they have already been dealt with (conquered). Whereas the spiritual threats will be dealt with in HIS time. It's phenomenal that some can't see this, & so have a problem with the likes of Matt 18:14 (seeing it as a contradiction), which says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should inherit eternal life-- that some people are pre-destined to hell, that salvation is unavailable to them. The parable is spoken to the crowd outside & explained to the disciples in the house, as portrayed in Matt 13:24-29,36-43: The kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came & sowed weeds among the wheat, & went away. The weeds did not appear until the wheat was on the verge of producing: When the wheat sprouted & formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him & asked. 'Do you want us to go & pull them (the weeds) up?' 'No,' he answered, because you may root up the wheat with them-- oh, how he cares for us. Let both grow until the harvest-- the simple explanation of why we have problems. At that time I will tell the harvesters-- the crowd missed the sudden use of the pronoun referring to himself: 1st gather the weeds & tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat & bring it into MY Barn. Then He left the crowd & went into the house. His disciples came to Him & said, 'Explain to Us the (Completely uncloak our eyes about that) parable in particular (Jesus having given 2 parables in the interim) of the weeds in the field.' He answered, The 1 who sowed good seed is none other than Me the physical (manifest) Son of man. The field is the world, & the good seed stands for Christians, the physical (evident) Sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the spiritual (cloaked) evil 1, & the 1 who sowed them is the spiritual (invisible) devil. The harvest is the end of the age, & the harvesters are not human, but angels-- recall, the weeds are dealt with 1st. As the weeds are pulled up & burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The SON of Man now ascended will send out HIS Angels & They will weed out of HIS Kingdom everything that causes sin & all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping & gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of Their FATHER-- later still they will be caught up & be together with Them (the ancient cloud of witnesses) in the sky. He (Any of you disciples) who has ears, let Him hear.

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Psalm 106 Author anonymous:

  Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for HE is Good; HIS Love endures forever. Who can exhaustively proclaim the Mighty Acts of the LORD or fully declare HIS Praise? Blessed are They who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.

  Remember Me, O LORD, when YOU show favor to YOUR People, come to My aid when YOU save Them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of YOUR Chosen Ones, that I may share in the joy of YOUR Nation & join YOUR Inheritance in giving praise. We have sinned, even as Our fathers did; We have done wrong & acted wickedly. Even when Our fathers were still in Egypt They gave no thought to YOUR Miracles; They did not remember YOUR Many Kindnesses, & They rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea (Yam Suph-- the Sea of Reeds).

  Yet HE saved Them for HIS Name's Sake, to make HIS Mighty Power known. HE rebuked the Red Sea, & it dried up-- Exo 14:21 says, the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind & turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, & the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on Their right hand & on Their left; HE led Them through the depths as through a desert. HE saved Them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy HE redeemed Them.

 We just saw that They rebelled by the Red Sea before being led through, This is a picture of us being born with a sin nature-- except of course this was a result of something they did. Roma 3:23a says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, I.e., even if someone could live a life never having sinned, he/she still has the super-glued sinful nature he/she was born with-- & Roma 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death. Even in the O.T. (Eze 18:4), we have, The soul that sins shall eventually die. At the end of life on earth, everyone will physically die; at the end of time, those with the sinful nature yet intact will spiritually die. A zillion good deeds during life on earth will not erase the inherited sin nature-- only the blood of Christ deals with that! However, very significantly-- Roma 3:23b says, the Gift of GOD is eternal life in (through) Christ Jesus Our LORD. We are released from this inherent sinful nature-- it is no longer super-glued, & we can live above it (& we must overcome it-- see Roma 8:3-5,8-9,12-14; Gala 6:8; Colo 2:11,13).

  The waters covered Their adversaries; not 1 of them survived. Then They believed HIS Promises & sang HIS Praise. But They soon forgot what HE had done & did not wait for HIS Counsel. In the desert They gave in to Their craving; in the wasteland They put GOD to the test. So HE gave Them what They asked for, HE sent a wasting upon Them. In the camp They grew envious of Moses & of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD. The earth opened up & swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. Fire blazed among Their followers; a fire consumed the wicked.

  At Horeb They made a calf & worshiped an idol cast from the metal. They exchanged Their glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the GOD who saved Them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham & awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So HE said HE would destroy Them-- had not Moses, HIS Chosen One, stood (, & HE would not have had Moses to stand) in the breach before HIM (facing HIM) to keep HIS Wrath from destroying Them. Then They despised the pleasant land; They did not believe HIS Promise. They grumbled in Their tents & did not obey the LORD.

  So HE swore to Them with uplifted hand (by an oath) that HE would make Them fall in the desert, that they would not enter the promised land, that HE would make Their descendants who did enter fall among the nations & scatter Them throughout the lands.

  Still before the descendants entered, They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor [which incident took place at the end of the desert wanderings, before they entered Canaan; Psalm 95 Psalm 95 3. Balaam's Epiphany-- BUT was about the person Balaam & his epiphany (which was possibly only temporary), but the Israelites yoked themselves to Baal], & ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; They provoked the LORD to anger by Their wicked deeds, & a plague broke out among Them.

  But Phineas (the grandson of Aaron) stood up & intervened, & again the Lord relented-- the plaque was checked. This story was not covered-- it is in Num 25:6-9. This was credited to Him for righteousness for endless generations to come. By the waters of Meribah, which actually took place well near the beginning of the wanderings (see Part I, E E.3.), well before the Baal incident, They angered the LORD, & trouble came to Moses because of Them; for They rebelled against the Spirit of GOD, & rash words came from Moses' lips (HIS Spirit & rash words came from His lips).

  They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded Them-- see above, Psalm 105  2. Contrast #7-- Dealing with enemies, but They mingled with the nations & adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to Them-- whereby They stumbled (see next Psalm). They sacrificed Their sons & Their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of Their sons & daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, & the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what They did; by Their deeds They prostituted themselves.

  Therefore the LORD was angry with HIS People & abhorred HIS Inheritance. HE handed Them over to the nations, & Their foes ruled over Them. Their enemies oppressed Them & subjected Them to their power. Many times HE delivered Them, but They were bent on rebellion & They wasted away in Their sin-- this would be The 7 Cycles of the 12 Judges (see Part II B.1.). But he took note of Their distress when HE heard Their cry; for Their sake HE remembered HIS Covenant & out of HIS Great Love HE relented. HE caused Them to be pitied by all who held Them captive.

  Far Distant prophecy Save Us, O LORD Our GOD, & gather Us from the nations, that We may give thanks to YOUR Holy Name & glory in YOUR Praise.  Praise be to the LORD, the GOD of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, 'Amen (Doxology).' EOP

  Praise the LORD-- end of Book 4 of the Psalms, which began with Psalm 90.