Psalm 105
1O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.
2Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works.
3Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually.
5Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
6O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
7He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
8He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac,
10which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.”
12When they were few in number, of little account, and strangers in it,
13wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people,
14he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account,
15saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.”
16When he summoned famine against the land, and broke every staff of bread,
17he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18His feet were hurt with fetters, his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD kept testing him.
20The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his possessions,
22to instruct his officials at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom.
23Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24And the LORD made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes,
25whose hearts he then turned to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
26He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27They performed his signs among them, and miracles in the land of Ham.
28He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they rebelled against his words.
29He turned their waters into blood, and caused their fish to die.
30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.
31He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country.
32He gave them hail for rain, and lightning that flashed through their land.
33He struck their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country.
34He spoke, and the locusts came, and young locusts without number;
35they devoured all the vegetation in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the first issue of all their strength.
37Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.
38Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night.
40They asked, and he brought quails, and gave them food from heaven in abundance.
41He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river.
42For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant.
43So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing.
44He gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,
45that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!
Although there is no superscript to introduce Psalm 105, verses 1-15 of this psalm appear in the mouth of King David in 1 Chronicles 16: 8-22 combined with several other psalms. This quote of this psalm at the arrival of the ark of the covenant in the tent David set up for it in Jerusalem is one possible background for the composition of this psalm narrating God’s gracious actions on behalf of the covenant people. Within book four of the psalter this psalm pairs with Psalm 106 which closes book four as well as Psalm 103 and 104 which preceded it. Psalm 103 gives thanks to the LORD because God is good (hesed), Psalm 104 gives thanks to the God who is great in relation to the creation, and now Psalm 105 celebrates the covenant faithfulness of God to God’s people in a narration of their history. Psalm 105 and Psalm 106 form complementary narrations of the history of God’s faithfulness. Throughout Psalm 105 there is no mention of the faithless moments in Israel’s history with the LORD the God of Israel, nor is there any moment of reflection upon God’s reaction to those moments of faithlessness. Unlike the other historical psalms[1] that is not the purpose of this psalm. Psalm 106 will contrast the faithfulness of God with the faithlessness of the people.
Once again, the people are summoned to give thanks and praise the LORD for the things that God has done and to remember the works, miracles, and judgments. The covenant throughout this Psalm appears to be the covenant with Abraham in relation to God giving the people the land of Canaan. Even though the second half of the psalm will deal with God’s mighty works in the Exodus narrative the Sinai covenant is never mentioned. Instead the focal point of the promise is the covenant with Abraham confirmed with Jacob (aka Israel) and the statute here and everlasting covenant is one sided. God promises protection and the land as an inheritance for this family set aside by God.
The people in the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wander this land as strangers (Hebrew gerim) who are reliant upon the LORD for protection. Abraham would claim before the Hittites that he was a “stranger and alien residing among them”[2] and this reality of the patriarchs and the people in Egypt being ‘strangers’ forms the ethical reaction to ‘strangers’ in Deuteronomy: “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”[3] Yet here the focus of the narrative is not upon the ethical responsibility of the people, but the gracious protection of God. God does not allow the settled nations to touch his anointed people or to harm the prophets.[4]
The backstory of the psalm continues through the narrative of Genesis, arriving to the story of Joseph who is sent ahead by God to Egypt to provide bread for the people in a time of famine. Even here, although Joseph is sold as a slave, the mention of the role of the brothers of Joseph in his sojourn in Egypt is obscured. Instead, it is the LORD who tests him through these ordeals. Joseph becomes a heroic figure who endures slavery and imprisonment only to rise to become the lord of the house of Pharoah. Yet, even at the end of this brief retelling of the Joseph story Jacob/Israel is an alien in the land of Ham.[5]
At the midpoint of the psalm the narrative shifts from the stories of Genesis to the stories of Exodus. Exodus remembers the duration of the sojourn of the people in Egypt as four hundred thirty years[6] and during this time they had not only been protected by God but prospered, emerging as a people great in number and feared by their Egyptian overlords. Moses and Aaron are sent to be God’s voice to the people and to Pharoah. The number and order of the plagues are different from the narration of Exodus 7-12 and Psalm 78:44-51. It is possible that this is a separate tradition recounting the Exodus narrative, but I believe it is also likely that the constraints of the poetic form of this psalm are responsible for the truncated nature of this retelling.
Yet, the truncated nature of the retelling of the signs and miracles performed in Egypt are extravagant compared to the narration of the journey from Egypt to the promised land. As mentioned above, the giving of the covenant at Sinai as well as the disobedience of the people is omitted. The forty years of wandering in the wilderness is reduced to eight verses or one stanza of the psalm and as throughout the psalm the focus is on God’s presence, protection, and provision for the people. God provided protection by the cloud and the fire, provided mana from heaven, quails for the camp, and water from the rock, and brought them to the long-promised land of the covenant.
Songs can play a crucial role in helping people to remember their story, and this Psalm helps to remind the people where they come from. Throughout this psalm they are sustained by protection and provision of the LORD through works, miracles, and judgments which demonstrate the faithfulness of the LORD to the people. Any narration of a story makes choices about what to include and what to exclude based upon the intent of the story, or in this case poem or song. The focus upon God’s continual faithfulness and provision may choose to exclude the faithless moments of the people, and yet this psalm stands within a collection of psalms and narratives which reinforce, strengthen, and complete its narration. Yet, the focal imagery of the past three psalms of God being a God of goodness and steadfast love, God being a God of greatness in relation to the creation, and finally God being a God of steadfast love and greatness towards the covenant people mutually reinforce each other.
[2] Genesis 23:4.
[4] Presumably for the purpose of the Psalm the patriarchs are the prophets.
[5] The tradition of Egypt coming from Noah’s son Ham is traced back to Genesis 10:6 where Cush (Ethiopia), Egypt, Put, and Canaan trace their lineage to this survivor of the ark in the Hebrew telling of their history.
Sign of the Rose 