Psalms 105:23-45
23 Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.
24 He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.
26 He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
27 They performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
29 He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
30 Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
33 He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
34 He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
35 And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
36 He also destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
The first of all their strength.
37 He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and He brought quail,
And satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.
42 For He remembered His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
43 He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with gladness.
44 He gave them the lands of the Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
45 That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.
Praise the LORD!
The second half of this praise for God’s faithfulness tells the story of Israel’s deliverance and guidance. Deliverance from the hardened heart of pharaoh against His people’s prosperity which ended in bondage symbolic of sin’s enslavement, and guidance out of bondage through miraculous plagues against the enemy and personal leading by the hand of God in the pillar of fire by night and smoke by day. The sojourning in Egypt for four hundred years began as an escape from famine, allowing God’s people to multiply and begin filling the earth (Genesis 1:28) as promised to Abraham in Genesis 13:16 and repeated to Isaac and Jacob called Israel. God hardened the ruler’s heart against His people according to His predetermined plan to glorify His own name in the eyes of all the earth, and sent a deliverer to free them from bondage (Acts 7:6), a type of Christ to come who would deliver all His people under the bondage of sin (Galatians 4:3-5). Even signs and wonderful miracles did not sway pharaoh to let God’s people go free out of the land they were initially welcomed into; the various plagues are listed here, culminating in the death of Egypt’s firstborn of the lowly to the mighty. God passed over His people because they were protected by the sacrifice of blood at their doorsteps, much as we are saved from His wrath and destruction by Christ’s blood allowing us entrance into Him as the gate (John 10:9) and as the sacrificial Lamb (John 1:36, Hebrews 10:10, 12) whose blood covers our sin as protection against certain eternal destruction. Just as God delivered them out of Egypt, led them to safety, and fed them along the way as He led them to the promised land, so now He leads us for His name’s sake and provides our needs. He has brought us out of the bondage of sin’s darkness into the marvelous light of His kingdom with joy and gladness! This is according to His promise of the new covenant by faith as believing Abraham (Galatians 3:9), by grace through faith according to His word. We will inherit an incorruptible kingdom as we observe His word now and into then, sanctified forever and not yet now completely. He is faithful who delivers and guides me. Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me!
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