Israel's rebellions and God's mercies (Exodus 32–34, Numbers 11–16, Deuteronomy 4–9)
“But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiffnecked, and did not obey your commands. 17 They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, 18 even when they cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt,’ or when they committed awful blasphemies.
19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the desert. By day the pillar of cloud did not cease to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst. 21 For forty years you sustained them in the desert; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen.
This first section of the psalm reviews God’s goodness from creation until Israel’s entry into the land of Canaan. Although the Lord had demonstrated his goodness in so many ways, Israel spent the whole 40 years in the wilderness complaining and rebelling. They even rejected Moses as their leader and chose Korah to lead them back to Egypt. As a result, the whole generation that had left Egypt, except for Caleb and Joshua, perished in the wilderness. In spite of Israel’s ingratitude, the Lord kept this covenant. He led the next generation into the Promised Land. Nevertheless, once the people were safely established in the land, they again forgot their promise to God.