O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
Psalms 105:1-45.-God's holiness and power manifested in His past judgments to the seed of Abraham is their ground of hope and thanksgiving (Psalms 105:1-7); God remembers His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever, whereby, when they were few in Canaan, He promised it as their inheritance (Psalms 105:8-12); so He saved them amidst dangers (Psalms 105:13-15); He overruled the famine to Joseph's promotion from a prison to rule Egypt: so Israel came there (Psalms 105:16-23); then they were dealt subtilly with; but Yahweh multiplied them the more they were afflicted: by Moses and Aaron, with miracles, He delivered them (Psalms 105:24-28); the plaques on Egypt (Psalms 105:29-38); God guided and sustained Israel in the wilderness (Psalms 105:39-42); He gave them the pagan's lands that they might keep His laws (Psalms 105:43-45). Psalms 104:1-35 consoles Israel in affliction by His manifestation of power and love in nature; Psalms 105:1-45 in history. The promise singled out is that assuring Israel of possessing Canaan. The deliverance out of Egypt suggested to the Jews-probably now in their Babylonian captivity-that God would similarly deliver them out of Babylon. The promise of Canaan to their forefathers, when few and strangers there, gave hope that God would restore their covenanted possession. Psalms 105:23 links Psalms 105:1-45 with Psalms 106:22. The last verse-stating God's design in giving Canaan, that Israel might keep His laws-is the starting point to Psalms 106:1-48 (cf. Psalms 106:3.) The first fifteen verses are from David's psalm, 1 Chronicles 16:8-22. There they are a thanksgiving for the rest in Canaan which God gave, the sign of which was the bringing up of the ark to Zion. Here they are the ground of hope of restoration to Canaan (Psalms 96:1-13, introduction).
Call upon his name - Call upon Him according to His glory manifested in history. After the example of Abraham, who, as often as God manifested His attributes in interposing mightily in his behalf, called upon the Lord's name in solemn worship (Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4).
Make known his deeds among the people - Hebrew, 'the peoples' (Psalms 18:49). "His deeds" are His wonders whereby He hath "made Himself a glorious name" (Isaiah 63:14; Psalms 103:7).