Psalm 106. This psalm begins with “Hallelujah, praise ye the Lord.” It closes the Fourth Book of the Psalms, and calls upon Israel to give thanks unto Jehovah for His mercy endureth forever. His dealings with Egypt in delivering them is again recited, but it is added that they soon forgot Him. Then He also reminds them of their rebellion and murmurings in the wilderness and of His having to deal with them in judgment on account of it. They had despised the pleasant land and not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah.
Then when in the land, they often forgot Jehovah and turned to idols, and even sacrificed their children to them, so that He had to allow the heathen nations around them to conquer them and afflict them. Many times did He deliver them, we are told. All this brings out a cry: “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto Thy holy name and to triumph in Thy praise.” The time is coming when all Israel shall be gathered back, not only the Jews, some of which are in the land, but from all the tribes. However, before they can be the objects of the blessing of the Lord, they will have to own their guilt in forsaking and rejecting Him when He came in lowliness. The psalm closes with, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord.”
Book Five, Psalms 107-150
This book gives us the closing scenes of the great tribulation (Matt. 24:21-3121For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:21‑31)) and Israel’s being gathered hack into the land. The various scenes through which they have passed are retraced, and they can now praise Him, no longer with the lips only, while the heart is far from Him (Matt. 15:8-3,) but in an acceptable way. We have the principles of the future kingdom set forth, something like that which is called the Beatitudes in Matthew, chapters 5-7. The last words of the last five psalms in our Authorized Version is “Praise ye the Lord,” so they have been spoken of as “Hallelujah Psalms.”
Psalm 107. There is a call here for the giving of thanks unto the Lord for His goodness in gathering back His people to the land from all directions. It embraces the whole twelve tribes of Israel, most of which are scattered and lost sight of to man, but will in God’s own time be found with a desire to return to the land.
Five times in this psalm there is a call for praise to the Lord for His goodness to them, after being brought through great trials. The last time it is connected with giving Him His place in congregational or collective praise. He has had to bring them to the point where they would see the error of their ways in the past in rejecting their Messiah. They had rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
ML 03/26/1961