Psalms 106:6

SIN NO. 1

"We have sinned with our fathers,

We have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.

Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt;

They remembered not the multitude of thy lovingkindnesses,

But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake,

That he might make his mighty power to be known.

He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up:

So he led them through the depths, as through a wilderness.

And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them,

And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

And the waters covered their adversaries;

There was not one of them left.

Then believed they his words;

They sang his praise."

"We have sinned with our fathers" (Psalms 106:6). The long and sinful record of Israel was invariable. After the sins of their forefathers, the people still walked in rebellion against God. The several synonyms for "evil" in this verse are to emphasis its abhorrence in God's sight.

"Rebellious even at the Red Sea" (Psalms 106:7). Delitzsch thought "Red Sea" here to be a reference, "To the sea of reed or sedge."[8] This was a popular error during the first half of the 20th century; and James Moffatt, contrary to all reason, translated "Red Sea" in the Exodus Crossing as "Reed Sea." However, when he found the same words over in the passage where it is related that "Solomon launched his navy," he went back to an honest rendition of what the word has always meant, namely, an arm of the Indian Ocean.

The words here, "[~Yam] [~Cuwp]" mean "The Sea of the End," the designation of the Indian Ocean in the era around the middle of the Second Millennium B.C., indicating at once the antiquity of Exodus, and the authenticity of "Red Sea" as an acceptable rendition of the term. (See my "Special Note on the Reed Sea," in Vol. 2 (Exodus) of my series of commentaries on the Pentateuch, pp. 177-179.)

The rebelliousness of Israel at the Red Sea consisted of their, "Murmuring, having forgotten all that God did in Egypt, complaining that God had brought them out of Egypt to destroy them."[9]

"He led them through the depths, as through a wilderness" (Psalms 106:9). The last phrase here, from the marginal reference, reads, "as through pastureland." The RSV renders it, "as through a desert." "Through the depths," therefore, means "where the deep waters had been."[10]

"Then believed they his words; They sang his praise" (Psalms 106:12). Israel's fleeting faith mentioned here, was no permanent thing at all; the first little inconvenience they suffered stirred up again their murmuring unbelief.