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Selected Verse: Psalms 106:24 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ps 106:24	King James	Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
The sin of refusing to invade Canaan, "the pleasant land" (Jer 3:19; Eze 20:6; Dan 8:9), "the land of beauty," was punished by the destruction of that generation (Num 14:28), and the threat of dispersion (Deu 4:25; Deu 28:32) afterwards made to their posterity, and fulfilled in the great calamities now bewailed, may have also been then added. despised-- (Num 14:31). believed not his word--by which He promised He would give them the land; but rather the word of the faithless spies (compare Psa 78:22).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

The sin of refusing to invade Canaan, "the pleasant land" (Jer 3:19; Eze 20:6; Dan 8:9), "the land of beauty," was punished by the destruction of that generation (Num 14:28), and the threat of dispersion (Deu 4:25; Deu 28:32) afterwards made to their posterity, and fulfilled in the great calamities now bewailed, may have also been then added.

despised-- (Num 14:31).

believed not his word--by which He promised He would give them the land; but rather the word of the faithless spies (compare Psa 78:22).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Yea, they despised the pleasant land - Margin, as in Hebrew, "land of desire." That is, a country "to be desired," - a country whose situation, climate, productions, made it desirable as a place of abode. Such Palestine was always represented to be to the children of Israel (Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Num 14:8; Num 16:14; Deu 6:3; Deu 11:9; et al.;) but this land had to them, at the time here referred to, no attractions, and they rather desired to return again to Egypt; Num 11:5. They believed not his word - His assurance in regard to the land to which they were going.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The fact to which the poet refers in Psa 106:24, viz., the rebellion in consequence of the report of the spies, which he brings forward as the fourth principal sin, is narrated in Num 13, Num 14. The appellation ארץ חמדּה is also found in Jer 3:19; Zac 7:14. As to the rest, the expression is altogether Pentateuchal. "They despised the land," after Num 14:31; "they murmured in their tents," after Deu 1:27; "to lift up the land" = to swear, after Exo 6:8; Deu 32:40; the threat להפּיל, to make them fall down, fall away, after Num 14:29, Num 14:32. The threat of exile is founded upon the two great threatening chapters, Lev 26; Deu 28:1; cf. more particularly Lev 26:33 (together with the echoes in Eze 5:12; Eze 12:14, etc.), Deu 28:64 (together with the echoes in Jer 9:15; Eze 22:15, etc.). Eze 20:23 stands in a not accidental relationship to Psa 106:26.; and according to that passage, וּלהפיל is an error of the copyist for וּלהפיץ (Hitzig). Now follows in Psa 106:28-31 the fifth of the principal sins, viz., the taking part in the Moabitish worship of Baal. The verb נצמד (to be bound or chained), taken from Num 25:3, Num 25:5, points to the prostitution with which Baal Per, this Moabitish Priapus, was worshipped. The sacrificial feastings in which, according to Num 25:2, they took part, are called eating the sacrifices of the dead, because the idols are dead beings (nekroi', Wisd. 13:10-18) as opposed to God, the living One. The catena on Rev 2:14 correctly interprets: τὰ τοῖς εἰδώλοις τελεσθέντα κρέα. (Note: In the second section of Aboda zara, on the words of the Mishna: "The flesh which is intended to be offered first of all to idols is allowed, but that which comes out of the temple is forbidden, because it is like sacrifices of the dead," it is observed, fol. 32b: "Whence, said R. Jehuda ben Bethra, do I know that that which is offered to idols (תקרובת לעבדה זרה) pollutes like a dead body? From Psa 106:28. As the dead body pollutes everything that is under the same roof with it, so also does everything that is offered to idols." The Apostle Paul declares the objectivity of this pollution to be vain, cf. more particularly Co1 10:28.) The object of "they made angry" is omitted; the author is fond of this, cf. Psa 106:7 and Psa 106:32. The expression in Psa 106:29 is like Exo 19:24. The verb עמד is chosen with reference to Num 17:13. The result is expressed in Psa 106:30 after Num 25:8, Num 25:18., Num 17:13. With פּלּל, to adjust, to judge adjustingly (lxx, Vulgate, correctly according to the sense, ἐξιλάσατο), the poet associates the thought of the satisfaction due to divine right, which Phinehas executed with the javelin. This act of zeal for Jahve, which compensated for Israel's unfaithfulness, was accounted unto him for righteousness, by his being rewarded for it with the priesthood unto everlasting ages, Num 25:10-13. This accounting of a work for righteousness is only apparently contradictory to Gen 15:5.: it was indeed an act which sprang from a constancy in faith, and one which obtained for him the acceptation of a righteous man for the sake of this upon which it was based, by proving him to be such. In Psa 106:32, Psa 106:33 follows the sixth of the principal sins, viz., the insurrection against Moses and Aaron at the waters of strife in the fortieth year, in connection with which Moses forfeited the entrance with them into the Land of Promise (Num 20:11., Deu 1:37; Deu 32:51), since he suffered himself to be carried away by the persevering obstinacy of the people against the Spirit of God (המרה mostly providing the future for מרה, as in Psa 106:7, Psa 106:43, Psa 78:17, Psa 78:40, Psa 78:56, of obstinacy against God; on את־רוּחו cf. Isa 63:10) into uttering the words addressed to the people, Num 20:10, in which, as the smiting of the rock which was twice repeated shows, is expressed impatience together with a tinge of unbelief. The poet distinguishes, as does the narrative in Num. 20, between the obstinacy of the people and the transgression of Moses, which is there designated, according to that which lay at the root of it, as unbelief. The retrospective reference to Num 27:14 needs adjustment accordingly.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

The fact to which the poet refers in Psa 106:24, viz., the rebellion in consequence of the report of the spies, which he brings forward as the fourth principal sin, is narrated in Num 13, Num 14. The appellation ארץ חמדּה is also found in Jer 3:19; Zac 7:14. As to the rest, the expression is altogether Pentateuchal. "They despised the land," after Num 14:31; "they murmured in their tents," after Deu 1:27; "to lift up the land" = to swear, after Exo 6:8; Deu 32:40; the threat להפּיל, to make them fall down, fall away, after Num 14:29, Num 14:32. The threat of exile is founded upon the two great threatening chapters, Lev 26; Deu 28:1; cf. more particularly Lev 26:33 (together with the echoes in Eze 5:12; Eze 12:14, etc.), Deu 28:64 (together with the echoes in Jer 9:15; Eze 22:15, etc.). Eze 20:23 stands in a not accidental relationship to Psa 106:26.; and according to that passage, וּלהפיל is an error of the copyist for וּלהפיץ (Hitzig).

Now follows in Psa 106:28-31 the fifth of the principal sins, viz., the taking part in the Moabitish worship of Baal. The verb נצמד (to be bound or chained), taken from Num 25:3, Num 25:5, points to the prostitution with which Baal Per, this Moabitish Priapus, was worshipped. The sacrificial feastings in which, according to Num 25:2, they took part, are called eating the sacrifices of the dead, because the idols are dead beings (nekroi', Wisd. 13:10-18) as opposed to God, the living One. The catena on Rev 2:14 correctly interprets: τὰ τοῖς εἰδώλοις τελεσθέντα κρέα.

(Note: In the second section of Aboda zara, on the words of the Mishna: "The flesh which is intended to be offered first of all to idols is allowed, but that which comes out of the temple is forbidden, because it is like sacrifices of the dead," it is observed, fol. 32b: "Whence, said R. Jehuda ben Bethra, do I know that that which is offered to idols (תקרובת לעבדה זרה) pollutes like a dead body? From Psa 106:28. As the dead body pollutes everything that is under the same roof with it, so also does everything that is offered to idols." The Apostle Paul declares the objectivity of this pollution to be vain, cf. more particularly Co1 10:28.)

The object of "they made angry" is omitted; the author is fond of this, cf. Psa 106:7 and Psa 106:32. The expression in Psa 106:29 is like Exo 19:24. The verb עמד is chosen with reference to Num 17:13. The result is expressed in Psa 106:30 after Num 25:8, Num 25:18., Num 17:13. With פּלּל, to adjust, to judge adjustingly (lxx, Vulgate, correctly according to the sense, ἐξιλάσατο), the poet associates the thought of the satisfaction due to divine right, which Phinehas executed with the javelin. This act of zeal for Jahve, which compensated for Israel's unfaithfulness, was accounted unto him for righteousness, by his being rewarded for it with the priesthood unto everlasting ages, Num 25:10-13. This accounting of a work for righteousness is only apparently contradictory to Gen 15:5.: it was indeed an act which sprang from a constancy in faith, and one which obtained for him the acceptation of a righteous man for the sake of this upon which it was based, by proving him to be such.

In Psa 106:32, Psa 106:33 follows the sixth of the principal sins, viz., the insurrection against Moses and Aaron at the waters of strife in the fortieth year, in connection with which Moses forfeited the entrance with them into the Land of Promise (Num 20:11., Deu 1:37; Deu 32:51), since he suffered himself to be carried away by the persevering obstinacy of the people against the Spirit of God (המרה mostly providing the future for מרה, as in Psa 106:7, Psa 106:43, Psa 78:17, Psa 78:40, Psa 78:56, of obstinacy against God; on את־רוּחו cf. Isa 63:10) into uttering the words addressed to the people, Num 20:10, in which, as the smiting of the rock which was twice repeated shows, is expressed impatience together with a tinge of unbelief. The poet distinguishes, as does the narrative in Num. 20, between the obstinacy of the people and the transgression of Moses, which is there designated, according to that which lay at the root of it, as unbelief. The retrospective reference to Num 27:14 needs adjustment accordingly.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Despised - Preferring Egypt, and their former bondage, before it, Num 14:3-4.

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²² Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

³¹ But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

³² Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.

²⁵ When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

²⁸ Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

⁹ And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

⁶ In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

¹⁹ But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.

⁵ We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

⁹ And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

¹⁴ Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.

⁸ If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

²⁷ And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

²⁴ But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

¹⁴ For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

¹⁰ And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

¹⁰ But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

⁵⁶ Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

⁴⁰ How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

¹⁷ And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.

⁴³ Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

⁷ Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

⁵¹ Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

³⁷ Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.

¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

³³ Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

³² They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

¹⁰ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
¹¹ Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
¹² Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
¹³ And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

¹³ Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

¹⁸ For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.

⁸ And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

³⁰ Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.

¹³ Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

²⁴ And the LORD said unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD, lest he break forth upon them.

²⁹ Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.

³² They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

⁷ Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea.

²⁸ But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:

²⁸ They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

² And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

⁵ And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.

³ And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.

²⁸ They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
²⁹ Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.
³⁰ Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
³¹ And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.

²⁶ Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:

²³ I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

¹⁵ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

⁶⁴ And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

¹⁴ And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹² A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

³³ And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

¹ And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

³² But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.

²⁹ Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

⁴⁰ For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

⁸ And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.

²⁷ And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

³¹ But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.

¹⁴ But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.

²⁴ Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:

³ And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
⁴ And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.