Psalm 105 Mar. 1  1Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on His name! Make His doings known among the peoples. 2Sing to Him, sing praises to Him! Tell of all His marvellous works. 3Glory in His holy name, let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice. 4Seek Yahweh and His strength, seek His face forever more. 5Remember His marvellous works that He has done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, 6you seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones. 7He is Yahweh, our God; His judgments are in all the earth. 8He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations, 9the covenant which He made with Abraham, His oath to Isaac, 10and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute; to Israel for an everlasting covenant 11saying, To you I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance; 12when they were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it. 13They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. 14He allowed no one to do them wrong. Yes, He reproved kings for their sakes, 15Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm! 16He called for a famine on the land, He destroyed the piles of food. 17He sent a man before them- Joseph, who was sold for a slave. 18They bruised his feet with shackles; his soul was locked in iron, 19until the time that His word came true, and Yahweh’s word proved Him true. 20The king sent and freed him; even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. 21He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all of his possessions; 22to discipline his princes at his pleasure, and to teach his elders wisdom. 23Israel also came into Egypt, Jacob lived in the land of Ham. 24He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. 25He turned their heart to hate His people, to conspire against His servants. 26He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. 27They performed miracles among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. 28He sent darkness, and made it dark. They didn’t rebel against His words. 29He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. 30Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the rooms of their kings. 31He spoke, and swarms of beetles came, and lice in all their borders. 32He gave them hail for rain, with lightning in their land. 33He struck their vines and also their fig trees, and shattered the trees of their country. 34He spoke, and the locusts came, and the grasshoppers without number 35ate up every plant in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground. 36He struck also all the firstborn in their land, the first fruits of all their manhood. 37He brought them forth with silver and gold, there was not one feeble person among His tribes. 38Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen on them. 39He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night. 40They asked, and He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of the sky. 41He opened the rock, and waters gushed out; they ran as a river in the dry places. 42For He remembered His holy word, and Abraham His servant. 43He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen with singing. 44He gave them the lands of the nations. They took the labour of the peoples in possession, 45that they might keep His statutes, and observe His laws. Praise Yah!   

Commentary

105:17-23 In the context of the Psalm, God is comforting Israel that all their sufferings had been experienced by Joseph. Israel as a nation are often spoken of as being in prison in a Gentile world (Ps. 79:11; 102:20; Is. 42:7,22; 49:9); just as Joseph was. Prison and death are often associated because a spell in prison was effectively a death sentence, so bad were the conditions. Israel being in prison is therefore a symbol of a living death. Just as God had delivered Joseph, so God’s people are to take comfort that when the right time comes, we too will be delivered from our present oppression.
105:18 This highlights the mental aspects of Joseph's suffering. The Hebrew for “hurt” means 'to browbeat or depress'; thus his soul was in iron, trapped, oppressively boxed in as he lay in the darkness. Joseph was in this situation until the determined time came for God to suddenly deliver him thanks to the unexpected word from a king; and so Judah, depressed in Babylon, were being comforted that when the predicted 70 years captivity were ended, they too would be likewise delivered- which came true in the decree of king Cyrus for them to return to their land with his every blessing.
105:19 God has arranged our lives according to a pattern; we have specific times in our lives for various situations. Looking back at the Biblical record of Joseph and Moses, whose life was divided clearly into three periods of 40 years, we see this clearly; but it’s of course harder to discern in our own lives as we are still living through it. But God is in control and has a plan for us, desiring only our eternal good in our latter end.
105:37 There was not one feeble person among His tribes- Amazingly, there was nobody sick amongst the three million or so who left Egypt that night. At our exodus from this world through our Red Sea baptism into Christ, we are made spiritually strong- and must abide in that strength.
105:45 That they might keep His statutes- The whole purpose of being in the Kingdom is so that we might be perpetually obedient to God’s word; this is the core reason for our wanting to be there.