must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls.
Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not
consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a
greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed.
If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many
proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when
we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.
Verses 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.
Chapter 107
Chapter Outline
God's providential care of the children of (1–9)
men in distresses, in banishment, and
dispersion.
In captivity. (10–16)
In sickness. (17–22)
Danger at sea. (23–32)
God's hand is to be seen by his own people. (33–43)Verses 1–9
In these verses there is reference to the deliverance from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon:
but the circumstances of travellers in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive
the horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands, exposed to the
burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the Lord has redeemed from the