Psalm 106:41

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

106:34-48 The conduct of the Israelites in Canaan, and God's dealings with them, show that the way of sin is down-hill; omissions make way for commissions: when they neglected to destroy the heathen, they learned their works. One sin led to many more, and brought the judgments of God on them. Their sin was, in part, their own punishment. Sinners often see themselves ruined by those who led them into evil. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. At length, God showed pity to his people for his covenant's sake. The unchangeableness of God's merciful nature and love to his people, makes him change the course of justice into mercy; and no other change is meant by God's repentance. Our case is awful when the outward church is considered. When nations professing Christianity, are so guilty as we are, no wonder if the Lord brings them low for their sins. Unless there is general and deep repentance, there can be no prospect but of increasing calamities. The psalm concludes with prayer for completing the deliverance of God's people, and praise for the beginning and progress of it. May all the people of the earth, ere long, add their Amen.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen - That is, of foreign nations. They were indeed "pagans," in the sense in which that term is used now - that is, they were ignorant of the true God, and worshipped idols; but that idea is not necessarily in the original word. The word "Gentiles" expresses all that the word implies.

And they that hated them ruled over them - Had them in subjection.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

40-43. Those nations first seduced and then oppressed them (compare Jud 1:34; 2:14; 3:30). Their apostasies ungratefully repaid God's many mercies till He finally abandoned them to punishment (Le 26:39).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he gave them into the hand of the Heathen,.... In the times of the judges; as into the hands of the Mesopotamians, Moabites, Canaanites, Midianites, and Philistines, to whom they became tributaries; see the book of Judges.

And they that hated them ruled over them; as it was threatened and foretold they should, in case they did not observe the law of God, Leviticus 26:17.

Geneva Study Bible

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

41. the heathen] The nations (R.V.) in contrast to Israel, Jehovah’s people.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 41. - And he gave them into the hand of the heathen. This is the great lesson taught by Jewish history, and especially impressed upon us by Judges and Chronicles. When a nation sins, it is delivered over to its enemies, partly for punishment, partly to lead it to repentance. Israel was delivered into the hand, first, of Mesopotamia (Judges 3:10), then of Moab (Judges 3:12), next of the Philistines (Judges 3:31), then of the Canaanites (Judges 4:2), later on of Midian (Judges 6:1), still later of Ammon (Judges 10:7-18), and then of the Philistines once more (Judges 13:1) - on each occasion because of some flagrant sins, and suffered chastisement until it repented. So we are told in Chronicles with respect to the invasions of Shishak (2 Chronicles 12:2-5), of Pul (1 Chronicles 5:25, 26), of Tiglath-pileser (2 Chronicles 28:19, 20), and of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Chronicles 36:13-17), that they were on account of the people's transgressions. God "slew" them that they might "seek him," and the ordinary result was, that they "turned themselves, and inquired after God." And they that hated them ruled over them. Chushan-rishathaim for eight years (Judges 3:8), Eglon for eighteen (Judges 3:14), Jabin for twenty (Judges 4:3), the Midianites for seven (Judges 6:1), the Ammonites for eighteen (Judges 10:8), the Philistines for forty (Judges 13:1). Psalm 106:41

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The sins in Canaan: the failing to exterminate the idolatrous peoples and sharing in their idolatry. In Psalm 106:34 the poet appeals to the command, frequently enjoined upon them from Exodus 23:32. onwards, to extirpate the inhabitants of Canaan. Since they did not execute this command (vid., Judges 1:1), that which it was intended to prevent came to pass: the heathen became to them a snare (mowqeesh), Exodus 23:33; Exodus 34:12; Deuteronomy 7:16. They intermarried with them, and fell into the Canaanitish custom in which the abominations of heathenism culminate, viz., the human sacrifice, which Jahve abhorreth (Deuteronomy 12:31), and only the demons (שׁדים, Deuteronomy 32:17) delight in. Thus then the land was defiled by blood-guiltiness (חנף, Numbers 35:33, cf. Isaiah 24:5; Isaiah 26:21), and they themselves became unclean (Ezekiel 20:43) by the whoredom of idolatry. In Psalm 106:40-43 the poet (as in Nehemiah 9:26.) sketches the alternation of apostasy, captivity, redemption, and relapse which followed upon the possession of Canaan, and more especially that which characterized the period of the judges. God's "counsel" was to make Israel free and glorious, but they leaned upon themselves, following their own intentions (בּעצתם); wherefore they perished in their sins. The poet uses מכך (to sink down, fall away) instead of the נמק (to moulder, rot) of the primary passage, Leviticus 26:39, retained in Ezekiel 24:23; Ezekiel 33:10, which is no blunder (Hitzig), but a deliberate change.