John Calvin Commentary Psalms 106:28

"They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead." — Psalms 106:28 (ASV)

And they joined themselves to Baal-peor. The prophet tells us that the Jews, after they had been threatened with very severe punishment, very soon fell into a new kind of apostasy. Some think that they are indirectly accused of falling away to the superstitions of the Midianites, as a result of being deceived by female intrigue. This, it is well known, was the design of Balaam, as soon as he knew that he was forbidden by God to curse the people. His counsel to King Balak was to set the daughters of Moab before the people, to entice them by their allurements to the practice of idolatry.

Behold, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor (Numbers 31:16).

And as the idolatry mentioned here originated from carnal intrigues, some expositors are of the opinion that on this account the prophet charges the people with committing a twofold trespass: not only were they inveigled by the Midianitish women, but they also bound themselves by another bond to Baal-peor (Numbers 25). Be that as it may, the prophet exclaims against the perfidy of his own nation, because in forsaking the true worship of God, they had broken that holy union by which they had been betrothed to him.

For we know that as God adopts the Church as his spouse, when she gives herself up to idolatry, she violates her fidelity no less shamefully than when a wife leaves her husband and becomes an adulteress. It is well known that Baal-peor was the idol of the Midianites, but it is not so well known how he received this name.

The word בעל, Baal, means lord, master, or patron. And since פער, paar, signifies to open, some render it the God of opening, and assign as a reason, which, however, I dare not affirm, their shamefully exposing themselves in his presence. Perhaps it is the name of some place, for we know that the heathens often gave to their idols the names of the countries where they were worshipped.

We now perceive the prophet’s meaning: that the Jews had wickedly revolted from God and defiled themselves by joining themselves to Baal-peor. In saying that they ate the sacrifices of the dead, he points out the greater baseness of their offense. By the sacrifices of idols, he means that they ate things that were offered to idols, just as they had been accustomed to partake of those sacrifices which bound them to the true God, the inexhaustible fountain of life.

Hence their conduct was all the more detestable, as they willfully gave themselves over to death by perpetrating such a heinous crime. And we know that banqueting was, to some extent, connected with their worship. The result of this was that, renouncing the true God, they joined themselves in marriage with the dead. Thus, the prophet charges them with behaving very disgracefully, not only by bowing the knee to Baal and offering sacrifices to him but also by feasting upon these sacrifices.