Devotional Short Note to Psalm 106: The function of this psalm was apparently for recital as one can see in the last verses: “And let all the people say: ‘Amen.’ Hallelujah”. These people in the psalm are in some form of an exile outside their domain and they are pleading that the Lord come to their rescue again as He did so many times in the history of Israel. Sin > punishment > reform > rescue followed in this cycle throughout the psalm. “We have sinned with our fathers” is the main problem of this psalmist that he admits to the Lord.

Examples are then listed one by one: 1450 BCE at the Exodus, despite so many miracles they were rebellious at the Sea (106:7). There was the miracle of the drying up of the Red Sea (106:9). Years ago a highcritical theory was circulated by a Rationalist that wanted to cut of the passing of the sea as a miracle. The scholar then suggested that it was not the Red Sea but the Reed Sea and that the water were low at that time for them to walk knee-deep through the water. He insisted that there was then a Rain Storm and flushfloods higher up that caused the Egyptians to drown. Like my professor Johan Japp at Helderberg College said with a smile: Is it not a miracle that the rain came at the right time? Even their theory cannot escape the miracle completely.

“And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them” (106:10). Thutmosis III was born of a streetwomen with the name of Iset and his father was estranged in marriage with Hatshepsut, the young girl of about 18 years old. She found Moses when she was six years old in 1530 BCE, too young to be his mother. During this scandal in the palace by her husband Thutmosis II in 1518 BCE, Moses arrived as a boy 12 years old. She found in Moses what she could not find elsewhere and he was her dream for the future of the country. Moses and Thutmosis III grew up side by side with this love-hate tension in the palace. When Moses killed the Egyptian in 1490 BCE, it was just what Thutmosis III was hoping for and now, since he fled, he was keen to find him to eliminate him to secure his sole rule over Egypt with no other favorites in sight. Sixteen times he went on expeditions and became the Napoleon of Egypt. Scholars think for gain but it is possible that he was looking for Moses. Moses disappeared from the face of the Egyptian earth and wrote Job and Genesis in exile. When the Lord asked him to return to Thutmosis III, he lost his ability to speak or speak properly. There is a reason for this.

“And the waters covered their adversaries, there was not one of them left” (106:11). Thutmosis III also died in the sea. Never to be found again. Great havoc was at the Egyptian palace. The Napoleon of Egypt did not return and his oldest son is dead a few hours prior at midnight. The Tomb was cut but not yet totally completed. The Israelite team that was working on it did a good job but due to the agony and chaos of that Exodus morning in March, the tomb was completed by a second team that worked very sloppy and the pictures on the walls are sometimes just elementary stick drawings. Sometimes the paint drops were left on the floor and they did not spent care to pick up or clean up. Some things are skew all signs that whoever finished the tomb was for some reason in a hurry to get out as fast as possible. It may by that they were driven by a superstitious spell since the original Pharaoh for the tomb was never found. They decided to place his oldest son, only 35 years old according to X-Rays by Wente et al at the Oriental Institute in Chicago, in the sarcophagi. There was no other way and the “show had to go on” to bring some stability in Egypt. In all probability the Exodus took place on the 17^th of March 1450 BCE. A citation that was normally written at the entrance of the Tomb was written on a piece of linen and the message or citation from the Book of the Dead done by Amenhotep II indicates his fear for the future of his father’s corpse. If he was an Egyptian pagan he should fear. Mummification was not possible for his father but only for his brother.

Israel then believed at the Exodus the words of the Lord and sang to Him (106:12).

They forgot it soon (106:13), they lusted (106:14), He “sent leanness in to their soul” (106:15). The events of Numbers 16 took place (106:16-18).

At Horeb they made a calf and worshipped a molten image (106:19). We were all thrilled at Ashkelon with Larry Stager and the Harvard teams when they discovered at the Amorite like wall on the northern side of the tell a small shrine on the outside with a molten calf. The bull was the Apis bull and a symbol of fertility. He was the god of Memphis and the “glorious soul of Ptah”.

“They forgot God their savior Who had done great things in Egypt” (106:21).

Egypt is the same as Ham (106:21 and 22).

They were not happy about Canaan “they scorned the desirable land” (106:24) according to Numbers 14:31.

At Baal-Peor they did evil things. They ate sacrifices of the dead (106:28). In many oriental countries it is the custom to go on the birthday of the ancestor to the grave and prepare food for him/her and then sit together on a blanket and eat leaving his/her plate standing there. In Japan for example they give him/her some ricewine to drink. Listening to my students telling me this in Japan, I suggested that next time they have a funeral to put a pipe from the mouth of the corpse all the way to the top so that they know where to throw the wine. I said, can you imagine how he swings his head left right and center to catch some drops that is flying everywhere!

Sarcasm aside, God does not approve of eating with the dead or for the dead or at a grave. A plague broke out (106:29). Also at the Waters of Meribah they angered him (106:32).

They mingled themselves with the heathen nations according to Judges 1:21 and 27 (106:34). They served their idols, sacrificed their sons and daughters [through abortion] (106:37) to demons.

The land was polluted with blood (106:38).

“Thus were they defiled with their works and went astray in their doings” (106:39).

They were oppressed by enemies (106:42).

Many times did He deliver them and they were rebellious in their counsel and sank low through their iniquity (106:43). When are you rebellious in your counsel? When you advice people to do exactly what the Word of God forbid you to do. When your sense of sensibility mingled with populism’s view of justice and equal rights confused as humane and kind cause you to suggest, permit or allow actions that are condemned by the Word of God. That is rebellious. What if your pastor suggested that? Rebellious. What if fifty pastor in a conference meeting suggested that. Rebellious.

The beauty of exile is that the Lord made the hearts of the people who took His people into captive have pity upon them over how they treat them (106:46). Next time trouble hits us, God has already counseled those around us to be nice to us.