BibleTools.info

Bible Verse Explanations and Resources


Loading...

Psalms 106:6

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

We have sinned - Here the confession begins; what preceded was only the introduction to what follows: Our forefathers sinned, and suffered; we, like them, have sinned, and do suffer.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

We have sinned with our fathers - We have sinned as “they” did; we have followed their example. The illustration of the manner in which the nation had sinned occupies a considerable part of the remainder of the psalm; and the idea here is, that, in the generation in which the psalmist lived, there had been the manifestation of the same rebellious spirit which had so remarkably characterized the entire nation. The “connection” of this with the foregoing verses is not very apparent. It would seem to be that the psalmist was deeply impressed with a sense of the great blessings which follow from the friendship of God, and from keeping his commandments - as stated, Psalm 106:3-5; but he remembered that those blessings had not come upon the people as might have been expected, and his mind suddenly adverts to the cause of this, in the fact that the nation had “sinned.” It was not that God was not disposed to bestow that happiness; it was not that true religion “failed” to confer happiness; but it was that the nation had provoked God to displeasure, and that in fact the sins of the people had averted the blessings which would otherwise have come upon them. The psalmist, therefore, in emphatic language - repeating the confession in three forms, “we have sinned - we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly,” acknowledges that the failure was in them, not in God. The language here is substantially the same as in Daniel 9:5-6, and it would seem not improbable that the one was suggested by the other. Which was prior in the order of time, it is now impossible to determine. Compare the notes at Daniel 9:5-6.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
Here begins a confession of sin; for we must acknowledge that the Lord has done right, and we have done wickedly. We are encouraged to hope that though justly corrected, yet we shall not be utterly forsaken. God's afflicted people own themselves guilty before him. God is distrusted because his favours are not remembered. If he did not save us for his own name's sake, and to the praise of his power and grace, we should all perish.