Psalm 106:12

Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

106:6-12 Here begins a confession of sin; for we must acknowledge that the Lord has done right, and we have done wickedly. We are encouraged to hope that though justly corrected, yet we shall not be utterly forsaken. God's afflicted people own themselves guilty before him. God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered. If he did not save us for his own name's sake, and to the praise of his power and grace, we should all perish.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then believed they his words - In immediate view of his interpositions in their behalf in conducting them through the Red Sea, and in the destruction of their enemies.

They sang his praise - In the song composed by Moses on the occasion of their deliverance. Exodus 15.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. believed … his words—This is said not to praise the Israelites, but God, who constrained even so unbelieving a people momentarily to "believe" while in immediate view of His wonders, a faith which they immediately afterwards lost (Ps 106:13; Ex 14:31; 15:1).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then believed they his words,.... And not till then; for this is observed, not to their commendation, but to show the slowness of their hearts to believe; they believed on sight, but not before, as Thomas did; whereas, "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed", John 20:29. When they saw the Egyptians dead on the sea shore, then they believed the Lord, and his servant Moses; what he said by his servant Moses, that he would save them from the Egyptians, whom they should see no more, that is, alive, Exodus 14:13. The Targum is,

"and they believed in the name of his Word.''

They sang his praise; Moses with the men, and Miriam with the women; the song is recorded Exodus 15:1 and thus when the people of God have got the victory over the antichristian beast, they will stand on a sea of glass and sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, Revelation 15:2.

Geneva Study Bible

Then {f} believed they his words; they sang his praise.

(f) The wonderful words of God caused them to believe for a time, and to praise him.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. See Exodus 14:31; Exodus 15:1. The allusion to their momentary faith and gratitude emphasises the relapse which Psalm 106:13 goes on to describe.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - Then believed they his words. So in Exodus 14:31, "The people feared the Lord and believed the Lord" - believed, that is, when they could no longer disbelieve. They sang his praise. The allusion is to the "Song of Moses" (Exodus 15:1-18), in which the Israelites generally joined (Exodus 15:1, 20). Psalm 106:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The key-note of the vidduj, which is a settled expression since 1 Kings 8:47 (Daniel 9:5, cf. Bar. 2:12), makes itself heard here in Psalm 106:6; Israel is bearing at this time the punishment of its sins, by which it has made itself like its forefathers. In this needy and helpless condition the poet, who all along speaks as a member of the assembly, takes the way of the confession of sin, which leads to the forgiveness of sin and to the removal of the punishment of sin. רשׁע, 1 Kings 8:47, signifies to be, and the Hiph. to prove one's self to be, a רשׁע. עם in Psalm 106:6 is equivalent to aeque ac, as in Ecclesiastes 2:16; Job 9:26. With Psalm 106:7 the retrospect begins. The fathers contended with Moses and Aaron in Egypt (Exodus 5:21), and gave no heed to the prospect of redemption (Exodus 6:9). The miraculous judgments which Moses executed (Exodus 3:20) had no more effect in bringing them to a right state of mind, and the abundant tokens of loving-kindness (Isaiah 63:7) amidst which God redeemed them made so little impression on their memories that they began to despair and to murmur even at the Red Sea (Exodus 14:11.). With על, Psalm 106:7, alternates בּ (as in Ezekiel 10:15, בּנהר); cf. the alternation of prepositions in Joel 3:8. When they behaved thus, Jahve might have left their redemption unaccomplished, but out of unmerited mercy He nevertheless redeemed them. Psalm 106:8-11 are closely dependent upon Exodus 14. Psalm 106:11 is a transposition (cf. Psalm 34:21; Isaiah 34:16) from Exodus 14:28. On the other hand, Psalm 106:9 is taken out of Isaiah 63:13 (cf. Wisd. 19:9); Isaiah 63:7-64:12 is a prayer for redemption which has a similar ground-colouring. The sea through which they passed is called, as in the Tפra, ים־סוּף, which seems, according to Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:3, to signify the sea of reed or sedge, although the sedge does not grow in the Red Sea itself, but only on the marshy places of the coast; but it can also signify the sea of sea-weed, mare algosum, after the Egyptian sippe, wool and sea-weed (just as Arab. ṣûf also signifies both these). The word is certainly Egyptian, whether it is to be referred back to the Egyptian word sippe (sea-weed) or seebe (sedge), and is therefore used after the manner of a proper name; so that the inference drawn by Knobel on Exodus 8:18 from the absence of the article, that סוּף is the name of a town on the northern point of the gulf, is groundless. The miracle at the sea of sedge or sea-weed - as Psalm 106:12 says - also was not without effect. Exodus 14:31 tells us that they believed on Jahve and Moses His servant, and the song which they sang follows in Exodus 15. But they then only too quickly added sins of ingratitude.