Psalms 102-106

Psalms 102-106

            One of the classic expressions of what forgiveness means is in Psalm 103. David starts with the Lord’s prototypical self-identification: He is the Lord, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love (chesed, faithfulness). Some dozen times the Lord is so identified through the Old Testament. This God’s love (chesed, again) is as high as the heavens are above the earth. (The author of the children’s book, Guess How Much I Love You¸ with its answer, “To the moon and back,” has nothing on the Lord!) Then, the description of His forgiveness—“as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions.” It’s a beautiful statement that when God forgives our sins, He means it: there is no lingering effects in the heart of God.

            Psalms 105 and 106 make a pair. In the former, the psalmist extols the Lord’s faithfulness to His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He recounts His protection of them until their time in Egypt, and he reminds of the plagues and the Exodus. This God can be trusted. In the latter, the psalmist recounts Israel’s failures: their despair by the Red Sea, their craving for different food, the golden calf, their refusal to enter the land of promise, the idolatry at Beth Peor. God is faithful, but His people are not. I would seem that these psalms were written in the Exile, because Psalm 106 ends with a prayer to gather them again out of the nations. Because God is faithful, there is reason to believe He will.