John Calvin Commentary Psalms 106:7

"Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; They remembered not the multitude of thy lovingkindnesses, But were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea." — Psalms 106:7 (ASV)

Our fathers did not understand your wonders in Egypt, Here he recounts how the people, immediately from the very beginning of their liberation from bondage, were ungrateful to God and behaved in a rebellious manner.

He does not limit himself to the history of only one period; rather, the whole thrust of his narrative is to show that the people had never stopped doing wickedly, even though God responded to them with inconceivable kindness. This is proof of the invincible and desperate perversity of this nation.

He first blames the folly of the people as the cause of such ingratitude. In calling it folly, he does not intend to lessen the offense (as some are often accustomed to do), but to expose the vile and disgraceful stupidity of the people in being blind to matters so plain; for God’s works were such that even the blind could behold them.

From where could such gross ignorance originate, unless Satan had so maddened them that they did not regard the miracles of God, which might have moved the very stones? Now, when he adds, they remembered not, he expresses more forcibly the inexcusable nature of their ignorance; indeed, that their blindness was the result of stupid indifference more than a lack of proper instruction.

For the cause of their ignorance was their overlooking those matters which, in themselves, were abundantly evident. He further mentions how quickly that forgetfulness came upon them, which tended to increase their guilt. For it was astonishing that not even the very sight of these things could arouse their spirits.

Thus, it happened that while they had barely departed from Egypt and were passing through the sea, they proudly rose up against their deliverer.

Surely not one year, nor even a century, should have erased from their minds deeds so worthy of being remembered. What madness, then, at that very time to murmur against God, as if he had abandoned them to be slaughtered by their enemies?

That arm of the sea through which the people passed is, in Hebrew, called the Sea of Suph. Some translate it the Sea of Sedge and maintain that the word סופ, suph, signifies sea-weed. But whatever its derivation, there can be no doubt about the place. It is very likely that the name was given to it because it abounded with rushes.