Embrace the Word for Wednesday, August 19, 2026

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Psalm 105 is a celebration of the LORD’s commitment to keep His Word. Whereas Psalm 104 celebrated the LORD’s work of creation, Psalm 105 celebrates the LORD’s work of redemption. This celebration of redemption is anchored to the promises made to Abraham and is illustrated through Israel’s rescue from Egyptian captivity and return to the Promised Land. Much of Psalm 105 draws from Israel’s history starting with Abraham to Moses. The historical recollection is fitting for Israel’s current exile in Babylon. The hope being provided for a new generation of Israelites living in captivity is the assurance of a new exodus and return to the Promised Land. The first fifteen verses of Psalm 105 coincide with 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, which is a record of David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. Along with much of Psalm 96, the opening of Psalm 105 being used in 1 Chronicles suggests that these Psalms have some connection to David. Psalms 103-106, the final four Psalms to close out Book 4 of the Psalter, all express strong notes of praise. The ending of Psalm 104 with its call of Hallelujah or “praise the LORD,” extends to Psalm 105 and Psalm 106. Psalm 105 begins and concludes with a call to praise the LORD because He keeps His promises to Abraham (105:1-6, 42-25), and in between there is a historical survey of the LORD’s work in the lives of Israel’s patriarchs, particularly from the time that the LORD sent them to Egypt to the time that the LORD delivered them out of Egypt (105:7-41).

Psalm 105 opens with a command to praise the LORD: “Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!” (105:1). There are three aspects to this opening command of praise: (1) an order to publicly give thanks to the LORD; (2) an order to call upon the LORD; and (3) an order to declare what the LORD has done. These three elements of praising the LORD were to be stated through song: “Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!” (105:2). The command of praise was to glorify the LORD from a heart that earnestly sought the LORD: “Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (105:3-4). Note the term “seek,” which is used three times in verses 3-4. Interestingly, the same term is used in Deuteronomy 4 by Moses who instructed Israel what to do when they found themselves removed from the Promised Land because of their disobedience. Moses told them when in exile: “But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul” (See Deuteronomy 4:29). The Psalmist is simply telling the current exiled Israelites to do what Moses had instructed them to do. Even though they were in Babylonian captivity at the moment, they were children of Abraham, who were in need of remembering what their God had done: “Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!” (105:5-6). However discouraged the exiled Israelites where, their first concern was to be the worship of their God through the remembering of His promises and deeds: “He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth” (105:7).

At this point the Psalmist aids in the task of remembering by beginning a survey of history with the fact that the LORD remembers: “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations” (105:8). The Psalmist’s statement is reminiscent of the opening of the Book of Exodus as the people groaned under the burden of slavery: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (See Exodus 2:24). Like when the LORD remembered upon hearing His people groan—what He remembered was the covenant He made with Abraham and Israel’s patriarchs: “the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance” (105:9-11). The LORD made this covenant while Israel was just a small family of sojourners: “When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, saying, “Touch not my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!” (105:12-15). The Psalmist has just covered Genesis 12-36 as the historical record shows that indeed a little family would come to inherit the Land promised to them.

Tracing Genesis 37-50, the Psalmist moves to explain how the immediate descendants of Abraham wound up in Egypt: “When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron; until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him; the ruler of the peoples set him free; he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach his elders wisdom” (105:16-22). The emphasis is upon Joseph to highlight the LORD’s wisdom and power as seen through the acute season of his sufferings as a result of the ill-treatment of his brothers, then on to the exalted ascendency of Joseph who was the LORD’s instrument to preserve his family: “Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham” (105:23).

Tracing Exodus 1-15, the Psalmist accentuates how the descendants of Jacob became a great nation of people in Egypt. However, they also became a greatly hated great nation: “And the LORD made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes. He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants” (105:24-25). But it was in the context of Israel’s ill-treatment at the hands of the Egyptians that the LORD raised up Moses: “He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They performed his signs among them and miracles in the land of Ham” (105:26-27). What the Psalmist does next is enumerate several of the plaques by touching on seven of them in an intriguing order (9,1,2,3,7,8, and 10): “He sent darkness, and made the land dark; they did not rebel against his words. He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die. Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings. He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. He gave them hail for rain, and fiery lightning bolts through their land. He struck down their vines and fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. He spoke, and the locusts came, young locusts without number, which devoured all the vegetation in their land and ate up the fruit of their ground. He struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their strength” (105:28-36). The LORD destroyed or it could even be said “de-created” Egypt in judgment as the God who created life took the life of Egypt’s firstborn.

With Egypt devastated, Israel was released from their captivity: “Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it” (105:37-38). Coinciding with the language of Exodus 3:21-22, 11:2-3 and 12:35, the Psalmist adds that Egypt was more than willing to send Israel away. The LORD who remembered His covenant and rescued them from Egyptian captivity, also preserved them (just as He did Abraham’s small family referenced in Psalm 105:12-15): “He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night. They asked, and he brought quail, and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river” (105:39-41). Tracking the historical accounts of Exodus 13:21-22, Exodus 16:1-35, and Exodus 17:1-7, the Psalmist touches on the LORD’s sheltering presence as well as provision of manna and quail, along with water from a rock. Having freed His people from slavery, the LORD faithfully led them through the wilderness until such time that they crossed the Jordan and entered Canaan. The God who did that with Israel in the past is the same God who will remember the same covenant at present, for the promises to Abraham still defined His actions: “For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant” (105:42). What the LORD did previously, He assures them He will do again: “So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil” (105:43-44). The Psalmist echoes the assurances that Moses gave: “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full…” (See Deuteronomy 6:10-11). The Psalmist closes with a reminder that just as there was an intended result to the past deliverance by the LORD, so the result will be the same for this present generation of Israelites awaiting deliverance: “that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the LORD!” (105:45). The LORD who rescues His people is worthy of praise—He is worthy of a praise that is commensurate with a life of obedience. But a life of praise from a life of obedience is not simply the LORD’s requirement, it is the means through which His people will know of His good designs for them and enjoy the good life that He intends them to live.

As we reflect on Psalm 105, we can consider how the promises of Abraham find their fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ” (See Galatians 3:16). All who are in Christ through faith are now the recipients of all of the LORD’s promises—this includes believing Jews as well as believing Gentiles: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (See Romans 1:16). The beautiful rescuing redemption previewed in the Old Testament is ultimately displayed in the saving purposes of God in Christ by the Spirit. What ultimately awaits God’s people is a Promised Land that will comprise the entirety of a new earth in which the heavens descend and God dwells with His people (See Revelation 20). This redemptive work of Jesus not only rescues a people who are, on their own, incapable of keeping His statutes and observing His Laws, but also pours out His Spirit upon His people so that obedience becomes doable: “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (See Romans 8:3b-4).

That’s all for Embrace the Word for Wednesday, August 19, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Friday, August 21, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 106.