We Sinned Like Our Fathers
And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion. Psalm 106:45 · Berean Standard Bible
God remembered the promises He'd made to their ancestors and His deep, faithful love moved Him to compassion toward them.
The word 'remembered' doesn't mean God forgot and suddenly recalled something; it means He acted according to His covenant promises. Despite Israel's failures, God's commitment to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood firm. His covenant love isn't based on performance—it's based on His character and His word.
The psalmist celebrating the groundedness of God's mercy in His ancient promises.
This echoes back to God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 and His repeated reminders throughout Scripture that He would never completely abandon His people. This is the foundation of hope—God's word, not Israel's worthiness.
God's response arose from His covenantal commitment and His abundant merciful character, not from anything Israel deserved.
This verse makes explicit what the preceding verse implied—the grounds for God's responsiveness lie not in human merit but in divine self-commitment. The Hebrew בְרִית (berit, 'covenant') denotes not a negotiated contract between equals but a binding obligation God voluntarily assumed. The term "relented" (נִחַם, nicham) is the same verb used in Genesis 6:6 where God 'relents' over creating humanity, suggesting divine compassion operates through a kind of divine repentance—not change of fundamental character but a holding back of justice in favor of mercy. The phrase "abundance of His loving devotion" (כְרוֹב חֲסָדָיו, kerov chasdav) employs חֶסֶד (hesed), that untranslatable term meaning covenant loyalty, unearned favor, the thick texture of enduring relationship. Brevard Childs emphasized that this verse articulates what he called 'the asymmetry of the covenant'—God's obligation outlasts and outruns human faithfulness.
The psalmist now articulating the mature theological insight that sustains post-exilic faith—understanding deliverance as grounded in God's character rather than in human performance.
This constitutes the theological heart of the entire psalm and indeed of post-exilic Judaism generally. It reframes the exile not as the final word but as the context within which God's covenantal faithfulness becomes paradoxically most visible. It connects to the 'suffering servant' theology of Isaiah 40-55 where Israel's punishment reveals rather than negates God's redemptive commitment.
43Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.
44Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress.
45And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
46He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive.
47Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise.
Read all of Psalm 106 — The other side of Psalm 105. Israel's history retold through the lens of rebellion — yet God saved them again and again for His name's sake.
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