Week 16 Psalm 106
It’s difficult not to come away from 106 thinking that the point of the psalm is that: both we and our ancestors have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
The writer hammers away on that idea…gives eight historical instances where Israel acted wickedly. I recognize the eight stories. I’ve been reading them over the last couple of months…
Egyptian slavery
Sea of Reeds
Dathan & Abiram
Gold Calf
Spying Canaan
Baal-Peor
Meribah’s water
Worshipping idols.
Eight readily recallable and indisputable historical events. Eight open-ended opportunities where Israel could act in one way or another. Eight times where they made a choice and acted wickedly.
41 of the 48 verses make that point.
When 85% of a psalm’s content emphasizes We Have Done Wrong then I’d tend to think that’s a high enough percentage to qualify it as a Negativity Psalm.
But the remaining 15% of the psalm carries weight too. Verse one says: give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
And the psalm ends: blessed be the Lord…from everlasting to everlasting.
So maybe 106 is more a Contrastive Psalm. We have acted wickedly…but the Lord’s faithful love endures forever.
Note: quotes from Psalm 106:6, 1, 48 (NLT)