Read Psalm 106. What historical events and their lessons are highlighted in this psalm?

 Psalm 106 also evokes the major events in Israel’s history, including the Exodus, sojourn in the wilderness, and life in Canaan. It stresses the heinous sins of the fathers that culminated in the generation that was carried into exile. Thus, the psalm almost certainly was written when the nation was in Babylon, or after they had returned home, and the psalmist, inspired by the Holy Spirit, recounted for God’s people these historical incidents and the lessons that the people should have learned from them.

 This psalm, too, as the others, points to God’s faithfulness to His covenant of grace, by which He saved His people in the past (Ps. 106:45). It expresses hope that God will again show favor to His repentant people and gather them from among the nations (Ps. 106:47). The plea for present deliverance is not some wishful thinking but a prayer of faith based on the assurance of God’s past deliverances (Ps. 106:1-3) and the unfailing character of God’s faithfulness to His covenant with His people.

 The recollection of Israel’s historical failures in Psalm 106 is an integral part of the people’s confession of their sins and acknowledgment that they are not better than their forefathers. The present generation admits that it is even worse than its ancestors because it knew the consequences of the past generations’ iniquities and how God exercised His great patience and grace in saving them, even though they had deliberately walked in wicked ways in the past. If this were true for them, think about how much more so for us, today, who have the reve­lation of God’s character and saving grace as revealed in Jesus and the Cross.

 The good news of Psalm 106 is that God’s steadfast love always prevails over the people’s sins (Ps. 106:8-10, 30, 43-46). The key role of Moses and Phinehas in turning away God’s wrath points to the significance of Christ’s intercession on behalf of believers. Only personal experience of God’s grace can transform a past story into our story.