Psalms 106:40

My Notes

What Does Psalms 106:40 Mean?

Psalm 106:40 names something that should be theologically impossible: God abhorred His own inheritance. The people He chose, He came to loathe.

"Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people" — the Hebrew vayyichar-'aph Yahweh bĕ'ammo (and the anger of the LORD burned against His people) uses the standard formula for divine wrath. But the object is unique: 'ammo — His people. Not the nations. Not the enemies. His people. The same people He chose (v. 5), delivered from Egypt (v. 7-12), gave the promised land (v. 44). The anger is directed at the inheritance.

"Insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance" — the Hebrew vayyĕtha'ev bĕnachalatho (and He abhorred/detested His own inheritance) uses ta'av — one of the strongest words for revulsion in Hebrew. To abhor. To loathe. To be disgusted by. To find physically repulsive. And the object is nachalatho — His inheritance, His permanent possession, His treasured property. The Hebrew nachalah is the word used for Israel's special status (Deuteronomy 4:20 — "a people of inheritance"). God's segullah. His treasure. And He abhors them.

The theological shock is deliberate. The psalmist wants you to feel the cognitive dissonance: how can God abhor what He chose? How can the lover loathe the beloved? How can the owner be disgusted by the treasure? The answer is in the preceding verses (v. 34-39): they mingled, learned, served idols, sacrificed children to demons, shed innocent blood. The inheritance made itself abhorrent. The treasure contaminated itself until the Treasure-Owner couldn't look at it without revulsion.

The verb ta'av is used elsewhere for Israel's abominations (Deuteronomy 7:26 — "thou shalt utterly detest it"). The irony: the word God used for how Israel should regard idols, God now uses for how He regards Israel. They became what they were supposed to abhor.

Reflection Questions

• 1.God 'abhorred His own inheritance.' How do you hold together God's permanent choosing and His genuine revulsion at what the chosen become?
• 2.Israel became what they were supposed to reject — the word for God's disgust at Israel is the same word for how Israel should have felt about idols. Where might you be becoming the thing you were called to resist?
• 3.The revulsion came after a long process (v. 34-39). At what point does spiritual decline cross the line from disappointing God to disgusting Him?
• 4.Despite the abhorring, God 'heard their cry' (v. 44). How does the persistence of mercy through genuine disgust change your understanding of the limits of God's patience?

Devotional

God abhorred His own inheritance. Let that sentence land.

The people He chose from among all nations. The treasure He called segullah. The inheritance He pulled from the iron furnace of Egypt and planted in a land flowing with milk and honey. He came to loathe them. The Hebrew word is ta'av — to detest, to be physically disgusted, to find repulsive. Applied not to pagans. To His own people.

The psalmist doesn't soften it. He wants the full weight of it to hit. Because the question it provokes — how? how can God abhor what He chose? — is the question that drives you back to the preceding verses for the answer. They mingled with the nations (v. 35). They learned their practices (v. 35). They served their idols (v. 36). They sacrificed their children to demons (v. 37). They shed innocent blood (v. 38). They polluted the land with blood (v. 38). They became unclean through their works (v. 39). They played the harlot through their inventions (v. 39).

That's how. That's the road from treasured to abhorred. It took generations. It was gradual. But it was comprehensive. And by the time the inventory was complete, the inheritance had made itself so repulsive that even the God who chose it couldn't look at it without revulsion.

The cruelest irony: the word ta'av — which God uses here for how He feels about Israel — is the same word God used to describe how Israel should feel about idols (Deuteronomy 7:26). Israel was supposed to abhor the idols. Instead, Israel embraced the idols and became abhorrent. They became the thing they were supposed to reject.

But the psalm doesn't end here. Verse 44: "Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry." The God who abhorred His inheritance still heard their crying. The loathing didn't cancel the chesed. The disgust didn't override the covenant. Both existed simultaneously. And mercy — as verse 1 promised — endured.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture