Psalms 106:6 - Meaning and Application

This begins a heartfelt confession of sin, and it was especially fitting because the church was suffering. When we are in distress, we must justify God in everything he sends, admitting that he is right because we have done wrong. Remembering past sins, and yet seeing that God did not cast off his people, gives us hope that we may be corrected without being abandoned.

God’s afflicted people admit their guilt before him: “We have sinned with our fathers” (Psalm 106:6). That means they sinned in the same way their fathers did, following their pattern of rebellion. They had added to the long record of inherited guilt and filled up the measure of their fathers’ wickedness, which only increased the Lord’s anger (Numbers 32:14; Matthew 23:32). They also load blame on themselves in a way that suits true repentance: “We have committed iniquity,” meaning we have done what is sinful, and “we have done wickedly,” meaning we sinned boldly and on purpose.

This can also mean they confess not only that they copied their fathers’ sins, but that they shared in them. “We have sinned with our fathers” may mean that they were bound up with those earlier sins, since they were still in their fathers’ loins and bear their guilt (Lamentations 5:7). In either sense, they own their guilt plainly and without excuse.

They also mourn the sins of their fathers when Israel was first formed as a people. Since children often suffer for the sins of former generations, it is right for them to grieve over those sins too, even down to the third and fourth generation. Even now, the story of Israel’s rebellion should make us sorrow over how deeply human nature is bent toward evil, and how little even strong warnings can change it.

First, we see Israel’s strange dullness in the middle of God’s kindness to them: “They did not understand your wonders in Egypt” (Psalm 106:7). They saw the miracles, but they did not grasp their meaning or purpose. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have understood. They thought the plagues were only meant to free them, but they were also meant to teach and convict them, and to cure them of their love for Egyptian idolatry by showing the sovereign power of the God of Israel over all gods.

We often lose the benefit of God’s providences because we do not understand them. Their minds were dull, and their memory was unreliable. Though such amazing events should never have been forgotten, they did not remember them, especially the many mercies God showed in them. People distrust God when they fail to remember his kindness.

From that dullness came their stubbornness: “They rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea.” Their complaint was despairing of deliverance because the danger was so great, and wishing they had been left in Egypt (Exodus 14:11-12). Arguing with God’s providence and doubting his power, goodness, and faithfulness are serious sins. The place made the sin worse, because it happened at the sea, right after they had left Egypt and after they had seen God’s wonders. Yet they spoke against him as if all that power had no mercy, and as if he had brought them out only to kill them in the wilderness.

Still, God saved them despite their rebellion (Psalm 106:8-11). He made a way for them through the sea by rebuking it for blocking their path, and it dried up at once. As in creation, when God rebuked the waters and they fled (Psalm 104:7), so here he commanded the sea and it obeyed. He did more than make the way, he also led them into it by the pillar of cloud and fire, and by Moses he guided them through as safely as if they were walking through the wilderness. He strengthened their hearts to take the step and overcame their fear when danger seemed greatest.

He also stood between them and their pursuers, stopping the Egyptians from destroying them as they intended. Israel was on foot, but Egypt had chariots and horses and was ready to overtake them. Yet God saved them from the hand of Pharaoh, who hated them and now hated them even more because of the plagues he had suffered for their sake. He redeemed them from the hand of their enemy (Psalm 106:10), placing himself, as it were, in the pillar of fire between the oppressed and the oppressors.

To complete the mercy and turn rescue into victory, the Red Sea became a grave for the Egyptians (Psalm 106:11). The waters covered their enemies and killed them, but did not hide their shame. On the next tide, their bodies were thrown up on the shore (Exodus 14:30). Not one of them was left alive to tell what had happened to the rest.

Why did God do this for them? He tells us, it was for his own name’s sake (Psalm 106:8). Though they did not deserve this favor, he had planned it, and their unworthiness would not change his purpose, upset his plan, or make him fail to keep his promise. He did it for his glory, so his mighty power would be known, not only in dividing the sea, but in doing it even after their provocation. Moses prayed, “Let the power of my Lord be great and pardon the iniquity of this people” (Numbers 14:17, 14:19). The power of God’s grace in forgiving sin and sparing sinners is as great a wonder as his power in parting the waters.

For the moment, this mercy made a good impression on them: “Then they believed his words” (Psalm 106:12). They acknowledged that God was truly with them and had brought them out of Egypt in mercy, not to kill them in the wilderness. Then they feared the Lord and his servant Moses (Exodus 14:31), and they sang his praise in the song Moses wrote for that great deliverance (Exodus 15:1). In this, we see how God sometimes graciously silences his people’s unbelief and turns their fear into praise. As Scripture says, those who were mistaken in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn the truth (Isaiah 29:24).