Psalms 106:1

The last psalm of the book gives us the history of the people from another side — their ways with God. Those ways brought on them the long discipline that is still on them now. This discipline, with all its sorrow, is of course still His love, and shows Him Master over the evil, and in grace toward them. This psalm is their confession of their sin, and their final appeal to this grace of His, for the salvation now at hand. It begins and closes with the heart-utterance of His praise.

This beautiful Hebrew word occurs often in the book of Psalms. It is the opening and closing word of each of the last five psalms — psalms which as a whole and in their united character express the millennial praise of Israel. Hallelujah means "Praise Jehovah," or "Jah," a shortened form of Jehovah.

Until the Lord Jesus is viewed as having returned to Zion, this word "Hallelujah" is not found in the Psalter. Psalms 104:35, 105:45, 106:1 and 106:48 are the only other places where it is found in the whole collection.

Psalm 106 considers the great principle of the endurance of His mercy. That mercy holds despite all their failures, overabounding in faithfulness beyond them. Ki tov ki l'olam chasdo (for He is good, for His mercy endures forever). The end of it is the salvation and blessing of His chosen. It closes as they recognise that they depended on His mercy, being among the nations.

Then the whole of that psalm is occupied with showing what stubborn rebels Israel were. But why do they say, "His mercy endures forever"? Because it says further on, "And He remembered for them His covenant, and relented according to the abundance of His mercies" (Ps. 106:45). It is mercy that God falls back on… The nation had utterly ruined themselves by their sin. Then God withdrew into the infinite goodness of His own Being, and mercy rejoiced against judgment.

This is the expression of genuine piety, which then turns to confess the sinfulness of the people. The confession is not "they have sinned." That is admitted too, and it shows how Jehovah's mercy has endured. But the word is "we have sinned with our fathers." It is the practical piety which proves, in its own confession, enduring mercy.

We have already met this refrain in Ps. 106:1 and 107:1, and we shall meet it again in Ps. 136. David in his day, and the whole congregation with him, proclaimed it (1 Chron. 16:34). Solomon, with the people in unison, years later echoed it (2 Chron. 5:13; 7:3). The returned exiles, weak as they were, said it again when the Temple foundations were laid (Ezra 3:11). By and by, in full chorus, the returned and finally delivered people of Israel will confirm it. Language that suited them nearly three thousand years ago will suit Israel forever.

So from first to last, and through all the time between, it is and will be nothing but mercy. That covers creation, our redemption, our guidance through the wilderness, our deliverance from our enemies, and our being given all that God has secured for us in Christ — whether now, or when we are forever with the Lord. So we may adopt Israel's song and cry without ceasing, "O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever."