Outline of Chapter 105

An Introduction to Psalm 105

         vv.     1–7           The Reader (Israel), the Focus (Y^ehowah) and the Ten Imperatives

         vv.     8–12         God’s Covenant with Israel

         vv.    13–15         God’s Protection of Israel

         vv.    16–24         God’s Provisions for Israel in the Time of Joseph

         vv.    25–36         God’s Mighty Works on behalf of Israel during the Time of the Exodus

         vv.    37–42         God’s Provisions for Israel in the Desert 

         vv.    43–45         God Fulfils His Promises to Israel

Psalm 105 Addendum

Charts and Maps

         Introduction         Theories as to the Authorship and Occasion of Psalm 105

         Introduction         David Moves the Ark of God—a Timeline

         Introduction         Clarke Outlines Psalm 105

         Introduction         The Organization of Psalm 105

         v.       1              Make God’s Deeds Known to all the People

         v.       2              Study and Meditate on God’s Word

         v.       2              Praise God for All that He is and Tell Others about Him

         v.       3              We Glory in God’s Perfect Character

         v.       3              UN Study: Best and Worst Places to Live in the World

         v.       3              The Seven Commands of the Spiritual Life in the Age of Israel

         v.       5              Memory is a Part of our Spiritual Life

         v.       5              The Final Three Commands of Psalm 105:4–6

         v.       6              The Alternate Readings of Psalm 105:6

         v.       6              The Catholic Church and Ancient Manuscripts

         v.       7              The Exclusivity of the God of the Jews

         v.       7              God’s Judgments in the Earth

         v.       8              The Problems with Covenant Theology

         v.      10              Jacob vs. Israel

         v.      10              God’s Contract with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Nation Israel

         v.      13              Abraham’s Journeys

         v.      13              The Movements of the Other Patriarchs

         v.      16              Why God Moved Joseph’s Family to Egypt

         v.      17              The Parallels Between the Lives of Joseph and Jesus

         v.      17              The Problem of Pain

         v.      18              Hints to Parents

         v.      22              Various Translations of Psalm 105:21–22

         v.      22              Lessons from the Life of Joseph

         v.      25              God Turns the Egyptian’s Heart to Hate His People

         v.      25              The Egyptians Enslave the Jews

         v.      27              References to the Signs of God Done in Egypt

         v.      28              Is There a Negative in Psalm 105:28?

         v.      28              A Message to the Unbeliever about Brownie Points Given by God

         v.      28              A Shorter Message to the Believer about Witnessing

         v.      29              The First Plague: Water is Turned to Blood

         v.      31              Time Periods and Signs and Miracles of Scripture

         v.      36              Parallel Accounts of God’s Signs and Wonders Against Egypt

         v.      37              What About Reparations?

         v.      37              An Hypothesis Concerning God Hardening Pharaoh’s Heart

         v.      37              Reference Works on Christian Apologetics

         v.      39              A Cloud by Day and a Fire [Lightning?] by Night

         v.      40              The Lord Gave Israel Quail: the Scriptural References

         v.      40              The Abbreviated Doctrine of Manna

         v.      41              The Two No-Water Incidents in the Desert Wilderness

         v.      41              What is Found in the Bible

         v.      42              How God Initially Provided For Israel—a Psalmist’s Summation

         v.      43              The Song of Moses

         v.      44              God Gives the Land of Canaan to the Israelites

         v.      45              Israel’s Responsibility to Keep the Statutes of God

         v.      45              The 17 Rules of the Talmudists to Preserve the Text of the Old Testament

         v.      45              Masorite Checks on the Accuracy of Manuscript Copies

         v.      45              Flavious Josephus on the Accuracy of the Old Testament Text

         v.      45              Will Durant on the Accuracy of the Old Testament Text

         v.      45              Additional Resources on the Integrity of the Scriptures from the Internet

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Psalm 105

         Addendum          Bullinger’s Organization of Psalm 105 Side-by-Side Psalm 105

I ntroduction: Psalm 105 covers God’s relationship to Israel from its human inception—God speaking to Abraham—to the giving to them of the Land of Promise. This psalm covers the history of Israel with a wider sweep than does any other and this psalm covers what is essentially the pre-nation status of Israel. One of the most interesting aspects of the history of Israel as found in this psalm is that the apostasy and degeneracy of Israel is not mentioned. This does not mean that the psalm is inaccurate nor does it mean that the psalmist saw the history of Israel through rose-colored glasses, although that is the impression which is given. This is just a matter of emphasis, and the emphasis in this psalm is upon God and His work on behalf of Israel. So we are examining with a great sweep God’s care of Israel and His promises to Israel throughout the time of the Pentateuch. This psalm seems to be well-suited to follow Psalm 104, which deals with creation, restoration and sustenance of the earth. Psalm 106 seems to logically follow this psalm, as it deals with Israel’s continual failures and God’s grace.

The author and the time period during which this psalm was written can be reasonably guessed at. At first blush, it would appear that David or Asaph wrote this. This is because we have almost the exact same psalm as is found in 1Chron. 16 (at least the first 15 verses are the same). Immediately prior to this psalm in 1Chron. we read: Then on that day [the day of placing the ark of the covenant inside a tent among the people for the first time in years], David first assigned by the hand of Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to Y^ehowah (1Chron. 16:7). The responsibility given to Asaph and his family was to write psalms in praise of God and/or to perform these psalms of psalms composed by David. This could have been a psalm which had been around for awhile, which was chosen to be read on the day of the Ark was moved. One may reasonably understand this psalm to be illustrative of what David expected rather than something which suddenly had been written by Asaph or by David for the occasion. In the psalms, either the latter portion of the psalm was added at a later date or it just had not been quoted in its entirety in the 1Chronicles text. A precursory examination of 1Chron. 16 looks as though the praises sung there were sort of a greatest hits montage. That is bits and pieces of several psalms are read. What I believe actually happened is that the writer of 1Chronicles quoted what he remembered of what was sung (to be accurate, the writer of the document which the writer of Chronicles used to write Chronicles). We tend to recall the first few lines of several songs and hymns and we could quote these from memory, we would be hard-pressed to write down the complete lyrics. This is what I really think happened in 1Chron. 16; therefore, I don’t believe this was a re-working of 1Chron. 16, but that we have the psalm quoted in its entirety here and quoted in part in 1Chronicles. Therefore, that would place the time that this psalm was written prior to the time of David and Asaph; and since it was sung during their time for such an important occasion, this Psalm 105 was likely a classic song of praise to them, meaning that it had been around for say, 20 or more years (maybe even 200 or more years).

Furthermore, this psalm seems to have been written by whoever wrote Psalms 104 and 106, the three of which form an historical trilogy. The problem with this interpretation is that Psalm 106 appears to be written during the dispersion, which occurred long after 1Chron. 16. This would indicate that we do not have the same author—at least, not for Psalm 106—as we do for the previous two psalms. Now, it very well could be, that this psalm was written first, and then a later psalmist came along and decided to bookend this psalm by writing Psalm 104 and 106. We do not have enough information to take a dogmatic stand here.

Another theory is, David or Asaph wrote this psalm, and it is clearly lifted from the book of Genesis. As you may recall, the first time that David attempted to move the Ark of God, one of the Ark’s caretakers died. This psalm is sung during the second and successful moving of the Ark. What would make sense is, not only did David search the Scriptures in order to determine the proper way to move the Ark, but he was also moved by some of the things which he read, and he wrote this psalm about these things. It will be clear that some of these lines were lifted right out of Genesis—not word-for-word, but clearly thought-for-thought.

Let me offer another scenario: this author took the psalm of 1Chron. 16 and added to it. Then he wrote Psalm 106 as a companion psalm.

The subject matter of this psalm appears to be very similar to that of Psalm 78; however, Psalm 78 has a narrower historical sweep and a completely different purpose. Psalm 78 seems to be a call to the nation Israel to turn from their evil; Psalm 105 calls to Israel to turn to God in gratitude for His grace, protection and provision.

Allow me to speak to dogmatism for a moment. There are some interesting topics that we may speculate about: e.g., who wrote this particular psalm and the ones around it. We can be dogmatic about this psalm having been written for the moving of the Ark or at least before (the first 15 verses anyway), and after that, we are not allowed to be dogmatic, as we do not have enough information. I lean strongly toward this psalm being composed as a whole and by a man with a very precise and complex mind, as the organization of this psalm is a wonder to behold (you’ll see later on in this introduction). This certainly suggests David, who was a genius; but it does not exclude Asaph or an author from a previous age.

Where we are allowed to be dogmatic is when it comes to doctrinal principles: our salvation being provided for us in grace by Jesus Christ, attained to by faith alone in Christ alone; the Trinity; the depravity of man, etc. I was spiritually raised at Berachah Church where the pastor, R. B. Thieme Jr., was nothing if not dogmatic. However, this does not mean that we dogmatic about each and everything that we say related to the Bible. Some things lend themselves to dogmatism (the fundamentals of the faith) and some things do not (for instance, the time, place and authorship of some psalms).

With regards to the title of this psalm, Clarke writes: The hallelujah which terminates the preceding Psalm, is made the title of this by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic: but it has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee. The Syriac considers it a paraphrase on the words, “Fear not, Jacob, to go down into Egypt; and teach us spiritually not to fear when we are obliged to contend with devils; for God is our shield, and will fight for us.” 

The Reader (Israel), the Focus (Yehowah) and the Ten Imperatives

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Dead Sea Scrolls                   O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

For [His steadfast love endures forever!

O give thanks to the Lord, call] on His name; make known [His de]eds among the peoples! This psalm is found after Psalm 147 in 11QPs^a (and most likely in 4QPs^e). These are the only two psalm scrolls which preserve this psalm.

Masoretic Text                       Give thanks to Y^ehowah;

call in His name;

Make known in the peoples His deeds.

Septuagint                              Alleluia. Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon His name; declare His works among the heathen.

Significant differences:           There is no difference between the Greek and the Hebrew; except that the Greek takes the title for this psalm from the previous Psalm. the Dead Sea Scrolls have an additional line in v. 1.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Praise the LORD and pray in his name! Tell everyone what he has done.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Give thanks to the LORD, proclaim his greatness; tell the nations what he has done.

New Jerusalem Bible             Alleluia!

Give thanks to Yahweh, call on his name,

proclaim his deeds to he peoples!

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             O give praise to the Lord; give honour to his name, talking of his doings among the peoples.

Easy English (Churchyard)    Say "thank-you!” to the LORD.

Tell (everybody) his name.

Tell people in every country what he has done.

HCSB                                     Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; proclaim His deeds among the peoples.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Praise the Lord;

call on His name;

proclaim His deeds among the peoples.

NET Bible®                             Give thanks to the LORD!

Call on his name!

Make known his accomplishments among the nations!.

New International Version      Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what He has done.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

LTHB                                     O give thanks to Jehovah; call on His name; make His deeds known among the peoples.

Young's Updated LT              Give thanks to Jehovah—call in His name, Make known among the peoples His acts.

What is the gist of this verse? The psalmist begins with 3 imperatives to the reader (hearer): give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name; and make His deeds known to all people.

Translation: Give thanks to Y^ehowah;... This psalm opens with the second person plural, Hiphil imperative of to give thanks (this word means to cast or throw in the Qal or Piel; and to confess in terms of naming one's transgressions (in the Hithpael; possibly in the Hiphil). These are not just arbitrary meanings; the concept is that we are throwing or casting something before God when the word is found in the Hiphil or the Hithpael. In the Hiphil, the causative stem, a strong case could be made for there to first be motivation, which comes from God’s Word in the soul.

Psalm 106:1 reads: Hallelujah (Praise the Lord)! Give thanks to Y^ehowah, for He is good; for His grace is everlasting. Isa. 12:2: “Observe, God is my salvation. I have trusted and I will not be afraid; for Y^ehowah God is my strength and song; and He also has become my deliverance.” This psalm fully focuses upon God and His provision for and protection of the Israelites. The psalmist calls the people to praise God for what He has done and to express thanks to Him for His grace.

Application: We have a very large Old Testament which should not be ignored simply because we are in the Church Age. Although, we are not under the Law of Moses, there are a great many things in the Old Testament which would benefit us. When we are unsure about our relationship to God, or unsure about just how much a part of our lives God is involved in, then we look to Israel and we look to see how God functioned in the nation Israel. this psalm begins with 10 imperatives, but then moves to a history of Israel from the patriarchs through to the nation God brought through the desert. We ought not to focus on the miracles or dramatic signs, but upon the care and involvement of God with nation Israel, from beginning to end. When we observe the jealous brothers of Joseph selling him into slavery to the Egyptians (actually, this is not exactly what occurred). Obviously, this would appear to be a great injustice, a great wrong which needs to be righted; and, for many today in Joseph’s place, you would have hauled your brothers into court and sued them for their actions. But here is God’s hand in all of this: God sent Joseph to Egypt to prepare the way for his family. Psalm 105 tells us this straight out: God sent a man before them (v. 17a). So, when we face difficult circumstances, we look back to Joseph; we look back to what God did for all Israel; and we recognize that God works in our lives as well, and in ways that we may not fully appreciate while they occur.

This verse begins a set of 10 imperatives. From the very start, we are told to give thanks to God.

Let me hypothesize that each of these imperatives will be related to the content of this psalm. God has done many things on behalf of Israel—He has made many promises to Israel and He will keep these promises. For these reasons, the hearer ought to give thanks to God.

Translation:...[and] call upon His name The reader is enjoined here to call by means of His Name, to call in the Name of Him, etc. The implication is that one is calling to God but the emphasis is that it is by means of His Name, a reference to the second person of the trinity, Jesus Christ. All believers have direct access to God, when in fellowship. Our prayers are automatically based upon the saving work of Jesus Christ. He is what gives us access to God the Father. One of the actions which brings us into God’s plan in a significant way is correct prayer. God has set up a certain protocol for prayer that, when we fulfill that, we have made significant impact in God’s plan. Our prayer life is like a touchdown pass; it is a significant occurrence in the game. And any believer can participate in this way and such participation glorifies God, Who made provision for your prayers in eternity past. Now, the key is protocol: you must be filled with the Spirit (i.e., you have recently named your sins to God) and you address your prayers to God the Father. The more doctrine that you have, the more effective your prayers can be. The less doctrine you have, the more often you beg God to make it stop hurting or you beg Him to get you out of a jam that you got yourself into or you ask Him for things that you shouldn’t be asking for (e.g., for some person’s hand in marriage when they would make you one of the most miserable people on earth). “And it will come to pass that whoever calls on the name of Y^ehowah will be delivered.” (Joel 2:32a).

We will view a number of things which God has done on behalf of Israel, and many were the result of calling upon His name or calling for God to act by means of His name. Because He has come through in the past, we ought to continue to have the faith to call upon Him.

Translation: Make His deeds known among the peoples. Now, God had a plan for Israel and part of this plan was for them to reach out to the Gentiles. Your godly ones will bless You and they will speak of the glory of Your kingdom and they will talk of Your power—the power to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom (Psalm 145:10b–12). Sing to Y^ehowah; bless His name. Proclaim good news of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations—His wonderful deeds among all the peoples (Psalm 96:2–3). What I find fascinating is that God did not send out missionaries from the nation Israel as He does from the church. You would expect that in a time of more restricted travel and restricted flow of information that God would have the Israelites going out into the world to evangelize the world. However, that is His plan today, even though we have almost instant informational access to things which occur half-way around the world. God has not changed; He provides everyone with positive volition a chance to believe in His Son, regardless of geographical location and linguistic barriers. So God saw to it that His blessing of the nation Israel was made clear around the world, and everyone had a chance to believe in Jesus Christ based upon His reputation. This purpose is stated here in this psalm; the third verb is the 2^nd person plural, Hiphil imperative of to know. The similarity of the two words is an alliteration, as we have the bêyth (without the dagesh) also repeated.

What is to be made known among the peoples is His acts, deeds, practices. This is a reference to all that God had done on behalf of Israel; not only the miracles and wonders of God’s acts which took them out of Israel, but everything which preceded that. In fact, that is exactly what this psalm is about—to extol the works of God.

What was well-known to the people in the land around Israel was how God brought them out of Egypt and put them in this land flowing with milk and honey. Many people outside the nation Israel were saved in this way, by having God’s deeds made known to them.

Gill remarks: His deeds among the people are the effects of his counsel, wisdom, power, and goodness; such as the works of creation and providence, and especially of grace, and salvation; and which were to be published among the Heathen, for the glory of his name: and indeed the Gospel, which is ordered to be preached to all nations, is nothing else than a declaration of what Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, have done and do.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Sing to Him;

sing praises to Him;

Declare in all of His wonderful acts!

Septuagint                              Sing to Him, and sing praises to Him: tell forth all His wonderful works.

Significant differences:           The Greek adds in the kai conjunction.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Sing praises to the LORD! Tell about his miracles.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Sing praise to the LORD; tell the wonderful things he has done.

The Message                         Sing him songs, belt out hymns, translate his wonders into music!

New Living Testament           Sing to him; yes, sing his praises,

Tell everyone about his miracles.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Let your voice be sounding in songs and melody; let all your thoughts be of the wonder of his works.

Easy English (Churchyard)    Sing songs to him, make music for him.

Speak about all the great things that he has done.

God’s Word™                         Sing to him. Make music to praise him. Meditate on all the miracles he has performed.

NET Bible®                             Sing to him!

Make music to him!

Tell about all his miraculous deeds!.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

MKJV                                     Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; talk of all His wonderful works.

WEB                                      Sing to him, sing praises to him! Tell of all his marvelous works.

Young's Updated LT              Sing to Him—sing praise to Him, Meditate on all His wonders.

What is the gist of this verse? We have 3 more imperatives in this verse: sing to Him; sing praises to Him; and mediate upon or tell of His wondrous deeds.

Translation: Sing to Him. In this stanza, we have three more 2^nd person plural imperatives. The first imperative implores us to sing to God, which is what this psalm is all about—it is performed by the Levites before an audience of perhaps thousands, and it is possible that they are being enjoined to sing along.

Translation: Sing praises to Him. The entire thrust of this psalm was a song which celebrated the praises of God and glorified His great works on behalf of Israel.

The difference between this and the previous verb is, the previous verb appears to apply to singing with one’s voice, and this verb appears to involve musical instruments and/or praise. The first verb emphasizes the voice and the 2^nd verb emphasizes the content or the accompaniment.

There is a song from opera which is absolutely amazing ; however, when I see the actual meanings of the words in English, I am less than impressed. However, I have heard a doctrinal message applied to this song, and it is quite stirring, both due to the content and the music itself.

Translation: Declare [or, meditate about] all His extraordinary acts! When making this music, the words are to remain in the realm of the doctrine of the wondrous works which God has done. This 6^th imperative has two essential meanings: the hearer is both to meditate and study the acts of God; and he is to declare these acts to others. Although the immediate context calls more for the declaration of God’s works, one must first know what God has done before one can declare them.

Application: It is reasonable to study specific doctrines, to repeat them in your mind (or even aloud) so that you can communicate these things to others. Obviously, all believers should be able to clearly communicate the gospel and to be able to approach it from several different angles. After all, this is the greatest work of God.

There is nothing wrong with studying aspects of what God has done as well. Studying anatomy, psychology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, etc. are all wondrous works of God, and these are amazing things to study. One of the fascinating things about God’s universe is, no matter how narrow the field that we choose and how deep that we study it, there is always much more to know. When studying God’s creation or even those things which come as a result of His creation (philosophy, mathematics, economics, politics), it is extraordinarily complex and wonderful, and after having chosen a narrow discipline, we generally find out that all we know is a small percentage of what there is t know. Take the single cell, which is the bulding block of all life—one would think, that is simple enough. After all, we are made of millions of cells, so how complex could studying individual cells? After all, we can see them under a microscope; we can isolate them, we can study them in a variety of circumstances—and yet, our knowledge of cells is quite incomplete. We could study particular groups of living cells, and still, after, say, 8 years of university training, we can know a lot, but we should also recognize how little we know as well.

My field of study in school was primarily mathematics. When I began, I was relatively unimpressed. I had to pick up with mathematics where I left off—well, in fact, I backtracked somewhat, and began with College Algebra, Analytic Geometry and Trigonometry. There was obviously much more to these topics than what I covered, but I felt that I had a relatively good grasp of the material. When I picked up my rather heavy Calculus book, I was somewhat amazed as to its heft, and then more surprised that this contained 4 courses worth of material. In going through the first two years, it became clear to me that we were only skimming the surface of this particular discipline. After that, mathematics became a lot more difficult (apart from Linear Algebra and early statistics courses). I recall getting this tiny book on Series and Sequences, and then finding out on the first day that we would only cover about 4 chapters of this tiny book, and I thought to myself, whoa, how easy! I was wrong about that. But, when I first realized that I had barely skimmed the surface of my discipline is when I took some graduate courses in mathematics at U of H. Not only were there a lot of offerings in the list of courses, and quite a number of self-directed courses (which surprised me) and courses which appeared to be rather open-ended and organic (they appeared to vary from year to year, depending upon the professor’s approach), but the library selection of math books was overwhelming. I needed to go to the library and pick up a couple of reference books, as my professor was difficult to understand and the assigned textbook was not much help. When I came to the section on mathematics, I was rather surprised. I saw something which I did not know existed: bookcase after bookcase after bookcase of books on mathematics. I had no idea there were so many; and it was not a matter of having 10–20 books on the same topic, but there were such a variety of different sorts of mathematics which I was never aware of, even having had a Bachelors degree in mathematics. I recall seeing topic after topic that I had no clue about: fuzzy sets, vector bundles. I never even estimated how many shelves of books there were. In retrospect, there seems to me like there were 50–100' of bookshelves, floor to ceiling, books on both sides, essentially filled—thousands of books on mathematics. At this point I realized, I have barely scratched the surface of my own discipline. Compared to what I could know, I knew such a tiny percentage of my major that it was almost embarrassing. There were more books on the shelves there about topics that I did not even have a clue about, than there were books where I had some kind of an idea what was inside.

Mathematics might even be seen as an indirect creation of God. My point in all of this is, no matter how far we plumb the depths of God’s creation, the best we can do is scratch the surface; the best we can do is come to a relative few generalizations and principles. We live during an age of the explosion of knowledge, and the more we know, the more we recognize that we don’t know. The more we know, the more we realize that in any discipline, there is much more still to be discovered than we already know.

There is an attempt to secularize schools today as much as possible. We misapply our constitution (the separation of church and state, a phrase which does not even occur in the constitution), and anything which has anything to do with Jesus Christ is removed from learning. For instance, I recall learning many of the great Christmas hymns in school; now, these are hymns which today some schools ignore completely, or they are presented at parity with the songs of Satan’s religions. The bulk of our schools were founded by Christians interested in the study of God’s creation. The vast majority of our scientists, past and present, believe in God—the majority of those believe in Jesus Christ. And yet, there are these activists who attempt to take anything smattering of Christianity out of our public schools (including the colors red and green during the Christmas holidays).

Not surprising to most Christians, the further and further our schools move from Jesus Christ, the more dangerous they become and the less learning which takes place and the more indoctrination which takes place. What seems to be fascinating about today’s school system is, there are so many children who emerge from high school lacking some of the barest essentials in the realm of reading, writing, history, mathematics and science; and yet, so many of them seem to have strongly formed political opinions. It seems backwards to not have essential knowledge of the world around you, and yet to have strong opinions, nevertheless. The Bible tells us: Meditate on His wondrous works. This is what school ought to be.

And since I am on this tangent, let me add, some kids are going to be left behind! I am of the opinion that a significant number of students 10–20% ought to drop out of high school around their Sophomore year and start some kind of apprenticeship. There should also not be such a push for college, and making some kids feel like they are rejects because they have chosen not to go to college. College should be for approximately 50% of our students who graduate from high school. The other 50% are not 2^nd class people, nor have they been left behind. High school needs to provide a good overall background for a child, and be rigorous enough so that child actually has some fundamental knowledge which they can regurgitate.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Dead Sea Scrolls                   Glory in [His ho]ly name [let the] heart [of the one who seeks] His grace rejoice!

Masoretic Text                       Praise in a name of His holiness;

rejoices a heart of those seeking Y^ehowah.

Septuagint                              Glory in his holy name: let the heart of them that seek the Lord rejoice.

Significant differences:           None between the Latin, Greek and Hebrew. However, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the second line has those seeking His grace and in the Syriac, they seek His face. .

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Celebrate and worship his holy name with all your heart.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Be glad that we belong to him; let all who worship him rejoice.

The Message                         Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, you who seek GOD. Live a happy life!

New Living Testament           Exalt in his holy name;

O worshipers of the Lord, rejoice.

Revised English Bible            Exalt in his hallowed name;

let those who seeks the Lord be joyful in heart.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Have glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who are searching after the Lord be glad.

Easy English (Churchyard)    Be proud of his holy name.

Everybody that goes to the LORD (in his house), be very happy!

God’s Word™                         Brag about his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

HCSB                                     Honor His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

NET Bible®                             Boast about his holy name!

Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

MKJV                                     Glory in His holy name; let the heart of those who seek Jehovah rejoice.

Young's Updated LT              Boast in His Holy Name, The heart of those seeking Jehovah rejoice.

What is the gist of this verse? This third verse has one more imperative followed by an indicative: we are enjoined to boast [glory] in His holy Name [reputation, personage]; and then we are told that those who seek Jehovah God will rejoice.

Translation: Praise His holy name,... This is the 7^th of the 3^rd person masculine plural, imperatives. Praising God’s holy name is not unlike declaring His wondrous works. His works emanate from His holy character, which is expressed by the phrase His holy name. So, that final imperative in this group of 7 calls for us to praise or celebrate God’s perfect character.

Another minor consideration here is, this is the 7^th of the imperatives, and 7 is used to indicate God’s perfection or to indicate completion. Speaking of 7's (this is quite the segue), one of the fascinating things in this world is the 7 day work week. This is almost universal in our world, and yet few secularists seem to ask why. A mathematician might may 6 the number of days in a week, as it is known as a perfect number (the sum of its proper divisors is 6). 6 is also known as the number of man. Once the number of days in a year were known, choosing 5 might have been a good choice, since the number of days in the year are divisible by 5. Or, perhaps 8 days might be chosen. However, the work week is 7 days because God restored the earth in 6 days, and rested on the 7^th.

I stopped here and discussed the number 7, as the psalmist follows this 7^th imperative with an indicative (more properly, a Qal imperfect).

Translation: [Let] the heart of those who seek Y^ehowah rejoice. This is an odd duck of a phrase; prior to this, we have 7 2^nd person masculine plural, imperatives, and suddenly we have a 3^rd person masculine singular, Qal imperfect (although many translators incorrectly render this as a 3^rd person masculine plural, Qal imperative). In any case, it jumps out at you from the midst of so many imperatives (7 imperatives precede this phrase; and 3 imperatives follow it). The psalmist is not longer telling the reader what to do, but he states that the one whose heart seeks Jehovah will rejoice and they will be happy. Prov. 8:17: I [Bible doctrine] love those who love me; And those who seek me diligently will find me. Isa. 55:6–7: Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call+ on him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Lam. 3:25: The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

God has allowed me to get up every morning and study His Word. Now and again, like all men with fee of clay, I have other concerns; however, if my life changed drastically, what I would miss the most would be these few hours which I can spend in His Word. There are some evenings where it is a moderate struggle to stop what I am doing and get off the Bible class. I could use a number of rationalizations here to allow myself to stay home, as has been the case for my entire Christian life. However, if my life were ever radically changed, the most difficult thing for me to lose would be His Word.

In many Muslim countries, we could be stoned to death for studying God’s Word. To openly worship the Lord of Glory would be to take our own lives in our hands. On top of that, just to find a Bible teacher who knows what’s what, would be even more difficult. We live in the greatest nation which has ever been, and that is due to the fact that God’s Word is readily available. This is due to the fact that we send missionaries to other lands to proclaim God’s Word. And, our greatness is based upon our relationship with God’s people, the Jews.

Speaking of the greatness of the US, let me mention a recent UN survey:
UN Study: Best and Worst Places to Live in the World
Commentary	Graphic
Periodically, the United Nations does a study and ranking of the countries. The latest study, just put t in November of 2007, ranks Iceland as the best nation in the world, and the United States slipped from 8th place to 12th place (since the last such study was done). 175 nations, including Hong Kong and the Palestinian territories, are rated with such criteria as life expectancy, real per capita income, and education levels. This is such a joke. Apart from Australia of the top 12, these are nations which are not going to have people from all over the world trying to move there. One of our greatest problems at this time is dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants who have moved into our country. At the same time, one of France’s greatest problems at this time is rioting Muslims, who have, up to this point, killed over 100 French policemen.

To go off on another tangent, also recognize that the forces at work here are not so much to secularize our schools and our society, but to remove Jesus Christ from our schools and our society. Foot washing baths for Muslims at airports or at public schools? No problem. In fact, there are even some public schools where there is Muslim worship which occurs in the classroom during school hours. But songs about Jesus Christ sung by our school’s choirs? That is a whole other issue. And bear in mind, these same forces which want to remove Jesus Christ from our lives also would like to turn us away from Israel as an ally.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Seek Y^ehowah and His strength;

seek His faces continually.

Septuagint                              Seek ye the Lord, and be strengthened; seek his face continually.

Significant differences:           The Greek LXX looks at His strength as being a passive verb. There is only a letter or so difference between the two approaches. The Latin and Syriac are in agreement with the Greek.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Trust the LORD and his mighty power.

Good News Bible (TEV)         Go to the LORD for help; and worship him continually.

The Message                         Keep your eyes open for GOD, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.

New Jerusalem Bible             Rely on the mighty Lord;

constantly seek his face.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Let your search be for the Lord and for his strength; let your hearts ever be turned to him.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      Seek the Lord, and be strengthened; seek His face continually.

Easy English (Churchyard)    Visit the LORD, who is so powerful.

Always go to him (in his house).

God’s Word™                         Search for the LORD and his strength. Always seek his presence.

HCSB                                     Search for the LORD and for His strength; seek His face always.

JPS (Tanakh)                         Turn to the Lord, to His might

seek His presence constantly.

NET Bible®                             Seek the LORD and the strength he gives!

Seek his presence continually!

New International Version      Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength [His might and inflexibility to temptation, seek and require His face and His presence continually] evermore.

LTHB                                     Seek Jehovah and His strength; seek His face without ceasing.

Young's Updated LT              Seek Jehovah and His strength, Seek His face continually.

What is the gist of this verse? We return to imperatives, and the reader (hearer) is enjoined to seek Jehovah and His power and strength and to seek His face (presence) continually.

Translation: Study [or, seek] Y^ehowah and His strength [or, majesty];... We have two different words here often given the same translation. The first is the Qal imperative of to seek, to consult, to investigate, to study, to follow, to make inquiries concerning, to consult, to inquire. We seek God by the study of His Word.

In this world, we are weak. A tiny bacteria or virus can bring us down. We are nothing before a hurricane, tornado, volcanic explosion, earthquake, or any other natural disaster. The demons which plague us are smarter, know more scripture and are stronger than we are. I’ve seen powerful, strong men laying in bed, debilitated with some disease, their former physical prowess now irrelevant to their lives. We may fool ourselves and think that we are strong and powerful, but death will overcome every single one of us, and some of us will die by some debilitating disease which robs us of our strength and power. Furthermore, the true strength and power is in our minds—it is what we think. Our soldiers—particularly our marines and special forces—learn an incredible mental toughness which takes them through all kinds of disasters and pressures. Just this past month, Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, NY, received the Medal of Honor posthumously for incredible bravery under to the most tremendous pressure. He was killed June 27-28, 2005, while leading a four-man, special reconnaissance mission east of Asadabad in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. The team was trying to find a key Taliban leader in the mountainous terrain when it came under fire, the Navy said. Murphy was shot when he crawled into the open trying to signal for help. Two others were killed in the incident; one survived. My understanding is, these men were heavily outnumbered, on a secret mission, so their exact whereabouts were unknown, and Michael Murphy, without any regard for his own personal safety, moved out in the open, putting himself under direct fire, so that he could contact his base for support (they were unable to contact their base under cover where they were; the mountainous terrain blocked communications). This is mental toughness; this is incredible bravery. And this Michael Murphy is not some tough kid from the hood, but his father describes him as "honest, kind, caring -- probably the antithesis of what you would call a warrior."  He learned this mental strength in boot camp and it was a part of his character.

Few of us will ever face that sort of a life and death situation—however, we study and seek God’s strength, so that our lives can be honorable and reflect impersonal love and self-control. We will all be placed under pressure and God will reveal Himself through us, if we have His strength and power.

One of the buzzwords of the 90's was empowerment. I must admit that my concept of that word is a person who has no strength of character, who gets pushed around, and essentially feels worthless, so he has got to grab a hold of some empowerment. God’s strength is ours. Sometimes He has to take away our strength so that we fully realize His strength. However, usually when He teaches us through experience—for instance, to rely on His strength, to have patience in Him, to remain morally pure, etc.—when God teaches us through experience, it is often because we refused to learn it from His Word. Personally, it is a hell of a lot easier for me to learn this directly from his Word that a stove is hot, rather than to hold my hand down on it and discover that for myself.

Application: By the way, if you are one of those people who has to learn by experience, then that’s fine—just don’t tell anyone that you are a Christian. It embarrasses the rest of us when you have first identified yourself with Jesus Christ and then you spend most of your life putting your hand on hot stoves for all to see. You are why unbelievers point and say, “Now that’s why I have no interest in fundamentalist Christianity; Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites.”

Application: So that I don’t leave this phrase in a self-righteous huff, please recognize that, if you have perfect standards, which all believers should have, then you are going to naturally be hypocritical—that cannot be helped. However, when you conduct your life in a public realm, you must realize that others are watching you if they realize that you are a believer in Jesus Christ. So, if you are going to lie, cheat and steal in business, then keep your faith a secret; if you are going to carouse, drink, use drugs and chase women, then keep your faith in Christ on the down low. What I am speaking of here is a consistent pattern of life.

Application: And just so we are clear on this, once you have become a believer in Jesus Christ, then if you continue with a lifestyle as I have described above, part of that lifestyle is going to include divine discipline.

Translation: ...continually seek His face [with intense desire]. The second verb is the Piel imperative of to seek or to seek with desire and diligence. There is motivation and intensity attached to the second verb. Here, we have to watch ourselves. We are not seeking some mystical presence of God or some warm, runny feeling because God is near. God is always near and His hand is always in our life and His presence is always with us. However, the concept of seeking His face goes directly to being in fellowship and know His perfect character, which comes only from knowing His Word—which is how He has revealed Himself to us.

There are those who complain because they do not feel God’s presence in their lives; they do not feel that God has involved Himself in their lives; they do not see any sort of visible manifestation of His face. The problem—big surprise here—is not with God. As has been said, God is omnipresent—He is everywhere. He is omniscient—He knew every heartache, every problem, every difficulty that we would face and He knew these things in eternity past. This means that we will never face a problem for which He did not make provision for in eternity past. When we we are not aware of God’s presence (and I mean aware in the sense of knowing, not feeling), then it is generally a matter that we have not grown spiritually. God’s perfect character is ascertained through His Word; He has not revealed Himself in any other way in our dispensation. We don’t need to seek some great emotional experience nor do we need to give credence to the great emotional experiences of others. If someone tells you that they had this great experience or dream and here is what God said to them or revealed to them, just quietly move away. We have a completed canon of Scripture with God’s relationship to you fully explained in the greatest detail. And when it comes to spiritual impact, no one can compare to a person with God’s Word in his soul. We can only hope that we will be known as: This is the generation of those who seek Him; who seek Your face. [Listen], O Jacob! (Psalm 24:6).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       Remember His incredible works which He has done;

His wonders and judgements of His mouth.

Septuagint                              Remember his wonderful works that he has done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;...

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Remember his miracles and all his wonders and his fair decisions.

Good News Bible (TEV)         You descendants of Abraham, his servant; you descendants of Jacob, the man he chose: remember the miracles that God performed and the judgments that he gave.

The Message                         Remember the world of wonders he has made, his miracles, and the verdicts he's rendered—...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Keep in mind the great works which he has done; his wonders, and the decisions of his mouth;...

Easy English (Churchyard)    Remember the great things that he has done.

(Remember) his *miracles and what he said (to Pharaoh)...

God’s Word™                         Remember the miracles he performed, the amazing things he did, and the judgments he pronounced,...

NET Bible®                             Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,

his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed [the Hebrew reads “and the judgments of his mouth”],...

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                [Earnestly] remember the marvelous deeds that He has done, His miracles and wonders, the judgments and sentences which He pronounced [upon His enemies, as in Egypt] [Psalm 78:43–51].

English Standard Version      Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,...

Young's Literal Translation     Remember His wonders that He did, His signs and the judgments of His mouth. .

What is the gist of this verse? The final imperative requires the reader (hearer) to call to mind all of the wonders which God did, His signs and pronouncements of judgement. We may reasonable assume that the writer is pointing us primarily in the direction of what God did for Israel when in Egypt and when He led them out of Egypt into the Land of Promise.

Translation: Recall His incredible works which He has done,... The reader (or hearer) is enjoined to call to mind all of the great works which God has done. The things which we are to remember are His extraordinary works and His wonders, signs, miracles. We often do not realize how important and what an impact was the exodus and God’s works among mankind from the past. However, the psalmists continually point our attention in that direction. I will recall the deeds of the Lord; I will certainly remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and I will think on all of your deeds (Psalm 77:11–12). Many, O Y^ehowah my God, are the wonders which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us. There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count (Psalm 40:5). This is how Moses instructed the Generation of Promise: “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ You will not be afraid of them; you will remember well what Y^ehowah your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt; the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which Y^ehowah your God brought you out. So Y^ehowah your God will do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.” (Psalm 7:17–19).

Spurgeon comments: Memory is never better employed than upon such topics. Alas, we are far more ready to recollect foolish and evil things than to retain in our minds the glorious deeds of Jehovah. If we would keep these in remembrance our faith would be stronger, our gratitude warmer, our devotion more fervent, and our love more intense. Shame upon us that we should let slip what it would seem impossible to forget. We ought to need no exhortation to remember such wonders, especially as He has wrought them all on the behalf of His people.

Translation:...[as well as] His wonders [and signs] and the judgments which He has spoken [lit., of His mouth],... God’s judgments and decisions reflect His perfect character. His actions reflect His perfect character and His integrity.

Clarke speaks of the judgments of God’s mouth, and says they are Whatever He has spoken concerning good or evil. His commands, promises, threatenings; and particularly what He has foretold, and what He has done.

Gill on this judgments of His mouth, as well as a summation of this verse: [the judgements of His mouth are] the laws and statutes given at Sinai: each of which were indeed to be remembered: but "His wonders" may take in all the wonderful things done in Egypt and in the wilderness, and in settling the Israelites in the land of Canaan; and "his judgments" may also intend the judgments which He threatened to bring upon the enemies of Israel, and which He did bring upon them as He said. The wonders of His grace, of His law and Gospel, His judgments and His testimonies, are not to be forgotten.

I believe that what is in the writer’s mind is, he is pointing us toward the exodus, which will be brought out in much of the rest of this psalm. The psalmist is going to take us on a journey of the history of the Jewish people, which will take us from Abraham to the conquering of the land of Canaan. However, the primary focus will be on the exodus and on Israel in the desert.

Psalm 78 looks at this from a different perspective; I will only quote a portion of it, but the psalmist speaks of Israel’s continued unfaithfulness to God and their lack of faith in Him as contrasted with God’s faithfulness to Israel and His continued hand in their affairs: Psalm 78:40–55: How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted the Mighty God, and troubled the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His hand, the day when He ransomed them from the enemy, when He brought to pass His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the fields of Zoan; turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink. He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave their crops to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. He also gave up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to lightning. He cast upon them His burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, by sending evil angels. He made a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the first of their strength in the tents of Ham. But He made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; and He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. And He brought them to the border of His sanctuary, this mountain which His right hand had acquired. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by a surveyor's line, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. Our passage instead focuses on what men should do and why they should trust in God and seek Him.

This verse, and the verses prior to it, have to be addressed to someone; in v. 6 which follows, it will be clear that the psalmist is addressing the descendants of Abraham.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       ...O seed of Abraham, His servant,

O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

Peshitta                                  ...O you descendants of Abraham, His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen one.

Septuagint                              ...seed of Abraam, his servants, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Significant differences:           The only difference is, servant is plural in the Greek and in the Dead Sea Scrolls . Seed in the Peshitta is plural and his chosen one in the Peshitta is in the singular. The Latin agrees with the Hebrew exactly.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       You belong to the family of Abraham, his servant; you are his chosen ones, the descendants of Jacob.

New American Bible              You descendants of Abraham his servant,

offspring of Jacob the chosen one!

New Jerusalem Bible             Stock of Abraham, his servant,

children of Jacob whom he chose!

New Living Testament           O children of Abraham, God’s servant,

O descendants of Jacob, God’s chosen one.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             O you seed of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his loved ones.

Complete Apostles’ Bible      ...you seed of Abraham, His servants, you children of Jacob, His elect.

Easy English (Churchyard)    Abraham your father was (the LORD’s) servant.

(The LORD) chose Jacob and you are (Jacob’s) sons.

God’s Word™                         ...you descendants of his servant Abraham, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

English Standard Version      ...O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

NRSV                                     O offspring of his servant Abraham,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Young's Literal Translation     O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

What is the gist of this verse? The previous 10 imperatives are addressed to the descendants of Abraham and Jacob.

Translation: ...O progeny of Abraham, His servant,... From vv. 1–5, we have ten imperatives delivered to the listener; in v. 6 we identify the listener. This is to whom the psalm is addressed.

Gill comments: These [the seed of Abraham] are the persons all along before addressed; the Israelites, who descended from Abraham, were his natural seed and offspring, and who had reason to give thanks unto the Lord and praise his name, since so many and such wonderful things had been done for them; though all that were his natural seed were not the children of God; and such who have the same faith he had, and tread in the steps he did, are Christ's, and partakers of his grace; these are Abraham's seed.

Your Bible probably reads seed of Abraham...sons of Israel. However, some codices read seed of Israel and/or sons of Jacob rather than seed of Abraham...sons of Israel here. 1Chron. 16:13 reads seed of Israel...sons of Jacob. Furthermore, the parallelism is retained when we use Israel and Jacob, two names for the same person. The Bible often used these names in parallel poetical lines: For Y^ehowah has chosen Jacob for Himself and Israel for His own possession (Psalm 135:4). However, on the other hand, the Hebrew, Greek, Syriac and Latin all have O seed of Abraham here. So, apparently when this psalm was performed in public on the occasion of moving the Ark of God, they sang O seed of Israel...O sons of Jacob. At this point in time, I really do not know what to make of it, why the psalm reads one way and why the public performance has this slight difference. When we get into 1Chron. 16, I will see if anything occurs to me.

Now, when it comes to the fundamental doctrines of Scripture, this slight change is meaningless. In the psalm, we speak to those who are descended from Abraham, the father of the Jews, as well as to those who have been descended from Jacob, as a Jew had to be descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is possible that the psalmist here is emphasizing the testimony of Abraham: Abraham believed God and it was credited to his account as righteousness (Gen. 15:6 Rom. 4:3 Gal. 3:6). Why this would be different in the performance of the psalm is beyond me; however, either reading has no effect on any doctrine.

What would be most popular would be sons of Abraham. Any Israelite would want to be associated with Abraham instead of with Israel. Why would anyone have changed this? Simply because Abraham was a great man and being descended from Abraham is an honor. However, there is little in Jacob’s life to recommend him, other than his great love and devotion to Rachel. Therefore, there would have been times in Israel’s history where Abraham was more politically correct to mention than Jacob. Therefore, a slight adjustment to this psalm by some apostate but well-meaning scribe is One possible explanation.

We have previously examined the life of Abraham and the life of Abraham was exemplary; however, throughout the history of Jacob, we often wonder why God ever references him again. From his young age as a manipulator to his later years as a complaining, self-centered adult, we find very little in his life to recommend him. However, God’s Word continually speaks of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Why is this? Jacob is illustrative of God’s grace; he is an heir of the promise by faith in Jesus Christ and is remembered by God throughout eternity. Why is this important to us? For two reasons. One cannot help but examine the unsavory history of Israel, her unfaithfulness, her idolatries, her turning completely away from God’s Word, and then conclude that God just gave all His promises, lock stock and barrel, over to the church. That is patently untrue! In fact, that is Satan’s own lie! God has not forgotten nor has He forsaken Israel. It will be Israel and not the Church which is foremost in the time of the Great Tribulation. In fact, at the time of the tribulation, the Church will have been removed from the earth and the church which remains will be in great apostasy (as is Israel and her people today). The second reason is that many of you are total loosers in the spiritual life. You believed in Jesus Christ, but then fell out of fellowship 13 minutes after believing and you haven’t named your sins to God since then. In other words, you have been pretending to be this great Christian warrior, whereas, in fact, you are pathetic Christian hypocrite, a total embarrassment to Jesus Christ. Why is Jacob important to you? Because it is obvious that Jacob is saved by grace and not by works. And if God fulfilled all His promises to Jacob and his seed, and God will fulfill all of His promises to you.

Translation: ...O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. Here, we clearly have a reference to Jacob, and the significance is grace, as noted above. Jacob did little in his life to recommend him as a great believer. He made mistake after mistake after mistake, and clearly recorded his shortcomings in the Word of God (I personally believe that a portion of Genesis was written by Jacob).

Gill comments: this [sons of Jacob] is added to distinguish the persons intended from the other seed of Abraham in the line of Ishmael; for in Isaac his seed was called, which were the children of the promise, and that in the line of Jacob, and not in the line of Esau; from whom they were called Israel or Israelites, a people whom the Lord chose above all people on the face of the earth; for the word "chosen" may be connected with the children as well as with Jacob. The whole spiritual Israel of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, all such who are Israelites indeed, as they appear to be the chosen of God, so they are bound to praise his name.

What I should deal with here is, the minor question of should this read O progeny [singular] of Abraham, His servant [singular]; O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones [plural]; or should the first and/or second singular both be plurals? In the Masoretic text and in the Latin, both of the first two words in question are in the singular. In the Syriac (insofar as I can tell from the English translation), the first noun (seed) is in the plural; and in the Greek, the second noun (servant) is in the plural. I think that from the standpoint of parallelism, this should be singular, singular, plural, plural, as we find in the Hebrew text. Furthermore, I think that there is a logical progression, from Abraham being God’s servant to those born of Jacob being His chosen ones. After all, not all believing Jews behave as if they are God’s servants (Gen X of the exodus generation) are quite the illustration of this. So, I believe that the text, as found in the Hebrew, should stand.

Now, what this is all about is two things: individual responsibility and corporate responsibility. We do have a lot of information in Scripture and in the teachings of doctrinal pastors about individual responsibility. Every single one of us must believe in Jesus Christ and then we need to be in fellowship and to take in doctrine. This is our individual responsibility. Your parents cannot believe in Jesus Christ for you; you cannot be born a Christian; you cannot be a Christian because you were baptized as a child; only by your own personal choice to believe in Jesus Christ can you be saved.

Now, what has not gotten enough attention is exegesis and in doctrinal churches, is the concept of corporate responsibility. There are at least 3 clear groups of corporations to which most of us belong: marriage, family and country—which are also the divine institutions set up by God for all mankind. These concepts have not been ignored, and R. B. Thieme Jr. got the ball rolling when he classified these institutions. Furthermore, those who are doctrinal teachers have begun to deal with this subject matter; I just don’t believe that it has been fully developed yet.

In any case, your marriage is a corporate institution and a corporate testimony. Now, I don’t mean that you need to put on some kind of phoney front as a married couple—that is not a testimony to God. However, you need to do everything in your power in order to have a stable and healthy marriage. This includes marrying a believer who is on doctrine and this includes taking in doctrine as a couple. When church does not meet, then you need to set apart time at home in study. Spiritual growth is a daily endeavor. God gives you 24 hours every single day. You spend about 1–2 hours eating food during any given day, and if someone actually prepares a meal, and cleans up the dishes, eating during any given day will run 2–5 hours every single day. So, spending an hour in study is appropriate for the spiritual health of a couple, if only to get them both into fellowship for an hour a day. Prayer from a couple is also very effective. And, so that there is no confusion here, the responsibility here resides with the husband.

The 3^rd divine institution is the family. A young couple needs to grow and take in doctrine as a couple, and, when they have children, transitioning to a family study should be seamless. Just as you sit up with your child, teach him or her the gospel and how to pray, teaching that child Bible doctrine should also be a part of your daily life. Your family makes a statement. Your family is a corporate testimony. As a teacher, I met with two Christian parents of a child and this kid was a problem. He was not my worst problem at that school, but he was a problem. The parents sided with the child, did not think that there was anything that he needed to do, and, the next time I faced a problem in that kid’s class, he was the ringleader (I might be overemphasizing his role here). These parents should have sweated that child’s shadow into the wall and they should have read him the riot act. They should not have assumed that, since this kid was a Christian, that he was incapable of doing wrong. They seemed to be confused about the doctrine of the old sin nature. Their child had an old sin nature and they encouraged him to use it, which he did. If you are the parents of a family, your family is a testimony. Your family is a spiritual force. Your family is a corporate entity before God. Every single member of your family has an old sin nature. You need to be aware of that, and take that into consideration.

When I first began teaching in Texas, we have 5 outstanding principles—one for each class and the head principle. Their children were never problems in school. The head principle’s son was a testimony to his father’s love and to his father’s discipline (something which we did not see). The same was true, in that era, of the children of teachers at that school. If you had the son or daughter of some teacher down the hall, or from the next building, at one time, you could depend upon that child to show respect and to work hard. This is what others should expect from your family. When your second born wanders into some teacher’s classroom, the teacher should not be saying to him or herself, “Oh, crap, Charlie Brown had more than one child? Maybe I should put in for retirement.” When a child of yours is seen anywhere, those who know anything about your family’s reputation should be happy. If your child shows up looking for an after school job, if he or she tries out for some sports activity after school, or if he or she walks into a classroom on the first day of school, their reputation for integrity and hard work should precede them.

Now, what I have not touched on is blessing. I do not know how corporations are treated in eternity; however, I think that, in some way, they will be recognized. Now, we will not be married in heaven, which indicates that there will not be families in heaven, per se, but somehow, in some way, I believe that our corporate testimony will be recognized and rewarded.

Now, what should be clear is, God will bless a marriage and a family in time where the spiritual element is in the forefront. This can be quite dramatic. When R. B. Thieme Jr. began teaching about blessing by association, I must admit to having some reservation about that. However, I have seen time after time, my association with my extended family an my association with the places where I have worked, of great blessing which God pours out on these places (and, in most cases, He withdraws these great blessings when I leave). This is reasoning from experience, which is not the proper way to reason, but if you are a growing believer, listening daily to doctrinal teaching, you should notice blessings not just to you but to your family, to your place of worship, and to the place where you work. Exceptions to this are going to occur when God needs to make some changes in your life. I did not move to Texas kicking and scratching; but God did what was necessary to get me here. That involved some pressure. I was never without a job, never hungry, never without rent money—but it was also clear to me that I needed to do something other than remain in my hometown. I have digressed here, but my point is, when the corporations which we belong to are spiritually strong, then God will bless them, bearing in mind that He may want to move you from point A to point B.

Let me pursue this tangent, so I don’t leave you hanging: when it comes to divine guidance, what you need to do is, stay in fellowship and take in doctrine. If you do this, then God will move your from point A to point B if and when He finds it necessary.

There are a number of corporate witnesses which are not divine institutions. You may have a large or a small business—you need to operate that business ethically and fairly, treating your customers with respect and integrity and treating your employs with respect and integrity. I’ve mentions schools—if the principal of a school is a believer in Jesus Christ, then he needs to do everything within his power to deal with all those in his system with integrity. Hell, you might even be in a car pool with 2 other believers, and there is no reason why this cannot have some spiritual dimension to it. Now, this does not mean that you must be engaged in prayer or Bible study for the entire ride into town, but there should be some spiritual dimension, if all those who are a part of this corporation are agreeable.

The final divine institution is that of your country. Here, you do have limited impact, but you do have impact. The members of your church should hold up your country’s leaders in prayer. When you vote, and you should vote, this responsibility should be taken on with prayer and education. Now, on the other hand, recognize that you cannot solve world problems with political machinations. Everyone has an old sin nature; everyone in your church and everyone in your country. So, you cannot fix all the problems in the world by electing just the right candidate. Some believers are going to be moved to campaign for this or that candidate, and there is nothing in Scripture which forbids this (as long as you are growing spiritually); but recognize, your candidate has feet of clay, as will everyone whom he appoints to this or that position. Further, recognize that the election or this or that candidate is not going to usher in the Millennium. Such a thing is not going to occur. Similarly, you may simply be a cheerleader for this or that candidate—that is fine, as long as you recognize, it is not the end of the world if he loses the election nor does his being elected going to insure that everything is going to be all right in your country.

Now, bear in mind, you live in a country with millions of other people. Some of these people simply want a handout, and they will justify it in anyway that they can. In this upcoming election, we have one party offering to give lower class and middle class the world—or, free health care at the very least. If a majority of the people vote for such a program, then they deserve what they get.

Back to the topics at hand: we have individual responsibilities in this life and we have corporate responsibilities; this verse of Psalm 105 speaks to both sets of responsibilities.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       He [is] Y^ehowah our Elohim,

in all the earth, His judgments.

Septuagint                              He [is] the Lord our God; his judgments [are] in all the earth.

Significant differences:           None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The LORD is our God, bringing justice everywhere on earth.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The LORD is our God; his commands are for all the world.

The Message                         He's GOD, our God, in charge of the whole earth.

New American Bible              The Lord is our God,

who rules the whole earth.

New Jerusalem Bible             He is Yahweh our God,

Is judgements touch the whole world.

New Living Testament           He is the Lord our God;

His rule is seen throughout the land.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             He is the Lord our God: he is judge of all the earth.

Easy English (Churchyard)    He, the LORD, is our God.

What he says is to everyone (that lives) on the earth.

God’s Word™                         He is the LORD our God. His judgments are pronounced throughout the earth.

HCSB                                     He is the LORD our God; His judgments govern the whole earth.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

English Standard Version      He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

A Voice in the Wilderness      He is Jehovah our God; His justice is in all the earth.

Young's Literal Translation     He is Jehovah our God, In all the earth are His judgments.

What is the gist of this verse? This seems to be a concluding verse, giving reason for the 10 imperatives which have been laid down: Jehovah is God, and His justice and judgments are in all the land.

Translation: He [is] Y^ehowah our Elohim,... The psalmist makes it clear that we are speaking of Jehovah, the God of Israel. Nowhere in Scripture are we given over to worshiping just any God, or to the idea that we all worship the same God, but that there is and always has been One God that we worship.