19 The people made a calf at Mount Sinai ; they bowed before an image made of gold. 20 They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. 21 They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt- 22 such wonderful things in the land of Ham, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea. 23 So he declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged him to turn from his anger and not destroy them. 24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn't believe his promise to care for them. 25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord . 26 Therefore, he solemnly swore that he would kill them in the wilderness, 27 that he would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands. 28 Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor; they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead! 29 They angered the Lord with all these things, so a plague broke out among them. 30 But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped. 31 So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 106:19-31
Commentary on Psalm 106:13-33
(Read Psalm 106:13-33)
Those that will not wait for God's counsel, shall justly be given up to their own hearts' lusts, to walk in their own counsels. An undue desire, even for lawful things, becomes sinful. God showed his displeasure for this. He filled them with uneasiness of mind, terror of conscience, and self-reproach. Many that fare deliciously every day, and whose bodies are healthful, have leanness in their souls: no love to God, no thankfulness, no appetite for the Bread of life, and then the soul must be lean. Those wretchedly forget themselves, that feast their bodies and starve their souls. Even the true believer will see abundant cause to say, It is of the Lord's mercies that I am not consumed. Often have we set up idols in our hearts, cleaved to some forbidden object; so that if a greater than Moses had not stood to turn away the anger of the Lord, we should have been destroyed. If God dealt severely with Moses for unadvised words, what do those deserve who speak many proud and wicked words? It is just in God to remove those relations that are blessings to us, when we are peevish and provoking to them, and grieve their spirits.