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Meditation Psalm 105b

The Lord made his people very fruitful;
    he made them too numerous for their foes,
whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
    to conspire against his servants.
He sent Moses his servant,
    and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They performed his signs among them,
    his wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness and made the land dark –
    for had they not rebelled against his words?
He turned their waters into blood,
    causing their fish to die.
Their land teemed with frogs,
    which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
    and gnats throughout their country.
He turned their rain into hail,
    with lightning throughout their land;
he struck down their vines and fig-trees
    and shattered the trees of their country.
He spoke, and the locusts came,
    grasshoppers without number;
they ate up every green thing in their land,
    ate up the produce of their soil.
Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
    the firstfruits of all their manhood.
He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,
    and from among their tribes no one faltered.
Egypt was glad when they left,
    because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

He spread out a cloud as a covering,
    and a fire to give light at night.
They asked, and he brought them quail;
    he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
    it flowed like a river in the desert.

For he remembered his holy promise
    given to his servant Abraham.
He brought out his people with rejoicing,
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
he gave them the lands of the nations,
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled for –
that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.

Praise the Lord.

(Ps. 105:24-45 NIV)

In the first four sections of this Psalm we considered the call to worship, the Covenant of Promise, the Lord’s Protection and the Providence of the Lord.

V24-36 is a further consideration of the Lord’s protection. In Egypt the Lord caused His people to prosper to increase in number and be fruitful in all their work. The Egyptians grew to fear and hate the people of God. It was the Lord that caused this. The Lord was bringing about the Exodus of His people from Egypt to the Promised Land. The Lord raised up Moses and Aaron to lead the people out of the land. The Psalm passes over the years of slavery and hardship. Through those years the people of God may have wondered and even doubted what God was doing. The flow of the Psalm shows the flow of the plan of God. Miraculous signs were performed before Pharaoh, but his heart was hardened. Notice that I have just done what the Psalm does not do, that is mention of the name of Pharaoh. Pharaoh did much to ensure his name would survive. Cities were built and named after his sons, the history books were written in such a way that Pharaoh was made out to be a mighty warrior, slaying many with sword and spear. The truth is that Pharaoh never went to war, but he was later written into the battle. In the place where it is important, in the recount of the plan of redemption Pharaoh only plays a minor part, a mere means to an end, so he is not named.

The Psalmist recalls the plagues. It was the Lord who was the prime mover in making all this happen. V36 records the striking down of the all their firstborn.

The Lord brought the people of God out laden with silver and gold. God fulfilled His promise. He heard their cries and came to their aid. Not one of them faltered. The Lord guided them with a cloud by day and a fire by night. God provided their daily bread, manna and quail. He provided water from the rock.

The Lord did all this because He remembered the promise that He had made to Abraham. They rejoiced and praised the Lord. The Psalm makes no mention of the 40 years wandering in the wilderness and the struggle to possess the land under the leadership of of Joshua. The Lord gave His people the land for their possession. The scene was pleasantly set so that the people of God might enjoy the fruit of the land and the pasture that God had brought them into. They were called to honour the Lord and keep His commandments.

As the Psalmist reflects on the plan of redemption this far, he calls upon the people to praise the Lord.

The plan of redemption in the Exodus took a number of centuries to run its course. No individual was there to see the whole plan of God. We can take up the rest of the plan beyond this Psalm that runs through the judges, the kings, exile, restoration of a remnant, and the preservation of the tribe of Judah from which would come the Lord Jesus Christ. Today the outworking of the plan of redemption continues at a pace. Perhaps it is too slow for us to see the significant points of the coming in of the Kingdom. The plan of the Lord will continue until all rule and all authority will be put down and Christ will reign supreme. Out of the nations, the Lord is calling a people. We in the West have played a significant part in the past but that significance seems to have shifted to other lands. The Lord reigns. Praise the Lord.

Prayer
Lord it is easy for us to lose sight of the fact that You are bringing in the Kingdom of God. We pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord we thank You that in this Psalm that You have brought together some key points of the plan of redemption so that we can have a glimpse of what You were doing. If we had lived back then we may not have seen much progress or forward movement. We don’t see much movement today in this part of the world but we thank You that Your word reveals something of what the future will be like. Help us to trust in You and live in hope of that great salvation that will be fully completed in us through Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.