Psalms 106:6,7 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

We have sinned with our fathers That is, as our fathers did, and have not been made wiser or better by their examples, as we ought to have been. Our fathers understood not Or, considered not; thy wonders in Egypt Namely, so as to be rightly affected with them, and to receive from them the instruction they were intended to convey. They saw them, but they did not rightly apprehend the design of them; they thought, indeed, that the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance; but they did not consider that they were intended also for their conviction and reformation; not only to rescue them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel above all gods, and his particular concern for them. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies As their understandings were dull, so their memories were treacherous; though one would have thought such astonishing events should never have been forgotten or disregarded, yet they remembered them not so as to make a right use of them, and yield unto God that love, and praise, and obedience, and to put that trust in him, which such wonders deserved and required. But provoked him even at the Red sea When those wonders of his power and goodness, performed in Egypt, had been newly done, and ought to have been fresh in their minds. The provocation here referred to, was their despair of deliverance, because the danger was great, and wishing they had been left in Egypt still, Exodus 14:11-12. Observe well, reader, quarrelling with God's providence, and calling in question his power, goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to him as almost any whatsoever.

Psalms 106:6-7

6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.