They Would Not Believe His Promise

Hallelujah.Praise GOD, who is good—whose steadfast love is eternal. Who can tell GOD’s mighty acts,proclaim all due praises? Happy are those who act justly,who do right at all times. Be mindful of me, O ETERNAL One, when You favor Your people;take note of me when You deliver them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of Your chosen ones,share the joy of Your nation,glory in Your very own people. We have sinned like our ancestors;we have gone astray, done evil. Our ancestors in Egypt did not perceive Your wonders;they did not remember Your abundant love,but rebelled at the sea, at the Sea of Reeds. Yet they were saved, as befits God’s name,to make known God’s might. A blast was sent against the Sea of Reeds;it became dry;they were led through the deep as through a wilderness. They were delivered from the foe,redeemed from the enemy. Water covered their adversaries;not one of them was left. Then they believed God’s promise,and sang God’s praises. But they soon forgot those deeds;they would not wait to learn the divine plan. They were seized with craving in the wilderness,and put God to the test in the wasteland. They were given what they asked for,then made to waste away. There was envy of Moses in the camp,and of Aaron, GOD’s holy one. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,closed over the party of Abiram. A fire blazed among their party,a flame that consumed the wicked. They made a calf at Horeband bowed down to a molten image. They exchanged their gloryfor the image of a bull that feeds on grass. They forgot God who saved them,who performed great deeds in Egypt, wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,awesome deeds at the Sea of Reeds. They would have been destroyedhad not Moses, God’s chosen one,stood in the breachto avert God’s destructive wrath. They rejected the desirable land,and put no faith in the divine promise. They grumbled in their tentsand disobeyed GOD. So a divine hand was raised in oathto make them fall in the wilderness, to disperse their offspring among the nationsand scatter them through the lands. They attached themselves to Baal Peor,ate sacrifices offered to the dead. They provoked anger by their deeds,and a plague broke out among them. Phinehas stepped forth and intervened,and the plague ceased. It was reckoned to his meritfor all generations, to eternity. They provoked wrath at the waters of Meribahand Moses suffered on their account, because they rebelled against [God]and he spoke rashly. They did not destroy the nationsas GOD had commanded them, but mingled with the nationsand learned their ways. They worshiped their idols,which became a snare for them. Their own sons and daughtersthey sacrificed to demons. They shed innocent blood,the blood of their sons and daughters,whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;so the land was polluted with bloodguilt. Thus they became defiled by their acts,debauched through their deeds. GOD was angry with this peopleand abhorred them as an inheritance. They were handed over to the nations;their foes ruled them. Their enemies oppressed themand they were subject to their power. They were saved time and again,but they were deliberately rebellious,and so they were brought low by their iniquity. Upon seeing that they were in distress,and hearing their cry, [God] was mindful of the covenantand in great faithfulness relented. Their captors were made to be kindly disposed toward them. Deliver us, our ETERNAL God,and gather us from among the nations,to acclaim Your holy name,to glory in Your praise. Blessed is the ETERNAL, God of Israel,From eternity to eternity.Let all the people say, “Amen.”Hallelujah.

Psalm 106:1–20 traces the arc of Israel’s rebellion after the Exodus: God’s steadfast love opens the song, the sea is split, and within verses the people forget, crave, grumble, fashion a golden calf, and refuse to trust the promise of the land. The whole passage is a portrait of faith as fragile memory sustained by an unfailing God.