Commentary - Psalm 106:19-23

Bird's-eye view

Psalm 106 is a national confession of sin, a long and painful litany of Israel’s covenantal faithlessness set against the backdrop of God’s unyielding faithfulness. The psalmist is not just recounting historical trivia; he is leading the people in a corporate act of repentance by reminding them of their ingrained, generational pattern of rebellion. The psalm begins with a call to praise God for His enduring mercy, which seems almost paradoxical given the catalogue of wickedness that follows. But that is precisely the point. God’s mercy is not a response to our goodness, but the answer to our treachery. This particular section, verses 19 through 23, zooms in on one of the most infamous episodes in Israel’s history: the golden calf incident at Horeb (another name for Sinai). This was not a minor slip-up. It was a foundational act of apostasy, a spiritual adultery committed at the very foot of the mountain where God was formalizing His marriage covenant with them. The passage starkly contrasts God's glory with a bovine image, His mighty saving acts with the people's willful amnesia, and His righteous wrath with the stunningly effective intercession of Moses. It serves as a potent case study in the anatomy of idolatry and the necessity of a mediator.

The core of the sin described here is an act of exchange. Israel traded away their glory for something contemptible. They forgot their Savior in favor of a god they had to invent. This is the essence of all sin, and particularly the sin of idolatry. We take the infinite worth of God and swap it for something finite, created, and ultimately, stupid. The consequences are dire: God’s holy and just wrath is kindled, and He threatens total destruction. The only thing that prevents this annihilation is the presence of a mediator, Moses, who "stood in the breach." This points us forward with glaring intensity to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate mediator who did not just stand in the breach, but filled it with His own body on the cross, turning away the wrath of God from us forever.

Outline

Context In The Psalter

Psalm 106 forms a pair with Psalm 105. Together, they provide two sides of the same historical coin. Psalm 105 is a magnificent recital of God’s covenant faithfulness, recounting His mighty deeds from Abraham to the conquest of Canaan. It focuses entirely on God's side of the ledger; He remembers His covenant forever (Ps 105:8). Psalm 106, in stark contrast, recounts Israel’s side of the story. It is a detailed account of their persistent failure, rebellion, and forgetfulness. While God remembered His covenant, the people "soon forgot His works" (Ps 106:13). The two psalms must be read together to get the full picture of the gospel. God’s grace is not extended into a vacuum; it is extended to a people who are inveterate sinners, ingrates of the first order. The placement of this confession right after the celebration of God's faithfulness highlights the sheer gratuity of God's grace. His steadfast love, praised in 106:1, is not just a pleasant attribute; it is the active, history-shaping force that preserves a people who seem determined to destroy themselves.

Key Issues

The Great Exchange

At the heart of the Christian faith is a great exchange: our sin for Christ's righteousness. But long before that glorious exchange was accomplished at the cross, we see its dark parody enacted by sinful man. The apostle Paul describes the foundational sin of humanity in Romans 1 as an act of exchange. "They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things" (Rom 1:23). And again, "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie" (Rom 1:25).

This is precisely what the psalmist describes here. The Israelites at Horeb did not simply add a new god to their pantheon. They performed a swap. They took the living, active, personal glory of Yahweh, the very glory that was descending upon the mountain in fire and smoke, and they traded it in for a static, mute, molten image of a bull. This was not an upgrade. It was an act of cosmic insanity. To trade glory for grass is the business of fools, and this psalm is a confession that we are, by nature, those very fools. Every sin we commit is a reenactment of this scene at Horeb. Every time we choose our lust, our pride, our comfort, or our ambition over the will of God, we are exchanging His glory for the image of an ox that eats grass. We are declaring that we prefer the created thing over the Creator. The story of the golden calf is not just their story; it is our story, and understanding the depth of this folly is the first step toward understanding the height of God's grace in Christ.

Verse by Verse Commentary

19 They made a calf in Horeb And worshiped a molten image.

The language is stark and factual, like a court record. The location is crucial: Horeb. This is another name for Mount Sinai, the very place where God was revealing His law to Moses, the very place where they had sworn allegiance to Him. This was not a sin committed in a far-off land, influenced by foreign cultures. This was home-grown apostasy, right in God's front yard. They "made" a calf. Idolatry is always a work of our hands. We fashion gods for ourselves because we want a god we can manage, a god who serves our agenda. And then they "worshiped" it. The act of making is followed by the act of bowing. We create our idols, and then we become enslaved to them. A molten image is something poured into a mold, something predictable and static, the polar opposite of the living God whose voice was thundering from the mountain top.

20 Thus they exchanged their glory For the image of an ox that eats grass.

Here the psalmist provides the theological analysis of their action. It was an exchange. What did they trade away? "Their glory." This is a staggering phrase. Their glory was God Himself. Yahweh had condescended to be the God of Israel, to identify Himself with them. His presence was their unique honor, their defining characteristic among all the nations. He was their glory. And for what did they trade this infinite treasure? "For the image of an ox that eats grass." The psalmist heaps contempt upon the idol. It is not even a fearsome bull, a symbol of power. It is an ox, a castrated beast of burden. And its most notable characteristic is that it eats grass. They traded the God who spoke the universe into being for a metal cow that represents an animal that chews its cud. The folly is breathtaking. It is the height of spiritual stupidity, and it is the native condition of the human heart.

21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,

How could such a foolish exchange happen? The root cause was willful amnesia. They forgot God their Savior. Notice the title used: Savior. Their relationship with God was not based on abstract philosophy but on a concrete, historical act of salvation. He had rescued them. To forget Him was not just a mental lapse; it was an act of profound ingratitude. The psalmist begins to list the things they forgot. First, the great things in Egypt. This refers to the ten plagues, the systematic dismantling of the entire Egyptian pantheon by the power of Yahweh. Each plague was a direct assault on a specific Egyptian deity, proving Yahweh's absolute supremacy. To forget this was to forget that their God was the sovereign Lord of all creation and history.

22 Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham And awesome things by the Red Sea.

The list continues, piling up the evidence of their guilt. The wondrous deeds in the land of Ham is a poetic parallel for the plagues in Egypt (Ham being an ancestor of the Egyptians). The climax of God's saving work was the awesome things by the Red Sea. This was the great miracle of their deliverance, the parting of the waters, their safe passage on dry ground, and the subsequent annihilation of Pharaoh's army. This event was meant to be seared into their national memory forever as the ultimate proof of God's power to save and to judge. And yet, just a few weeks later, standing at the foot of the mountain, they had effectively erased the memory. This kind of forgetting is not passive. It is an active suppression of the truth. It is a moral choice to ignore what God has done because you want to do what you want to do.

23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from eradicating them.

Sin has consequences. God's reaction to this treason was not mild displeasure. It was holy, righteous wrath. "Therefore He said that He would destroy them." This is the just penalty for covenant-breaking. God is not a sentimental grandfather in the sky; He is a holy God whose justice must be satisfied. The threat of eradication was real and it was deserved. What stopped it? A mediator. Moses His chosen one. Moses, chosen by God for this very purpose, did something extraordinary. He stood in the breach. This is a military metaphor. When a wall is breached in battle, a brave soldier stands in the gap to hold back the enemy. Here, the "enemy" is the righteous wrath of God. Moses placed himself between the holy God and the sinful people. He interceded, appealing to God's own name and promises, and he was successful. He was able to "turn away His wrath." This act of Moses is one of the clearest Old Testament foreshadowings of the high priestly work of Jesus Christ. Moses offered his own life in place of the people's (Ex. 32:32). But he was only a type. The true Mediator, Jesus, would not just offer His life, but would actually lay it down, absorbing the full force of God's wrath in His own body, and thereby turning it away from us for good.

Application

This passage holds up a mirror to our own hearts. We may not be melting down our jewelry to forge a golden calf, but the spirit of Horeb is alive and well in the twenty-first century. Our idolatry is simply more sophisticated. We exchange the glory of God for the image of a successful career, a comfortable retirement, a respectable family, or a particular political victory. We take good things and we make them ultimate things, and in so doing, we worship them. And the root of our idolatry is the same as Israel's: we forget. We forget the cross. We forget the empty tomb. We forget the great and awesome things God has done to save us. We suffer from gospel amnesia.

The practical application is twofold. First, we must be ruthless in identifying and smashing our own idols. This requires constant self-examination in the light of Scripture. Where are we placing our ultimate hope? What do we look to for our security and significance? What would devastate us if it were taken away? The answer to those questions will likely point to a golden calf grazing in the pasture of our hearts.

Second, and more importantly, we must run to our Mediator. This passage shows us our desperate need for one. We cannot stand in the breach for ourselves. Our own righteousness is a filthy rag, not a shield to deflect God's wrath. Our only hope is that another has stood in the breach for us. Jesus Christ is our Moses. When God's righteous anger burns against our sin, our idolatry, and our forgetfulness, we must not look to our own efforts. We must look to Christ, who stood before the Father and absorbed the full blast of His wrath. He turned it away. Because of His intercession, God's disposition toward us is now one of grace. The proper response to this passage is not to despair over our sin, but to praise the God who provides such a great Savior for such great sinners.