Admonition to Praise Jehovah and Hear His Word.

By comparing verse 8 of this psalm with Heb 4:7, we find that it should be ascribed to David, either written by him personally or by one of his singers.

v. 1. O come, let us sing unto the Lord, this appeal sounding again and again in Scripture on account of the natural inertia and sluggishness of men; let us make a joyful noise, in the highest exultation, to the Rock of our salvation.

v. 2. Let us come before His presence, literally, “before His face,” to His holy Sanctuary, with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms, hymns setting forth His wonderful attributes.

v. 3. For the Lord is a great God, occupying a position of unique grandeur in this respect, and a great King above all gods, the idols falsely called gods by the heathen.

v. 4. In His hand, by virtue of His essential creative power and omnipotence, are the deep places of the earth, the very depths of the ocean; the strength of the hills, the summits of the highest mountains, is His also, under His absolute government.

v. 5. The sea is His, and He made it, the mighty ocean being a creature of His hand; and His hands formed the dry land, Gen 1:9-10. His alone is the majesty of creative omnipotence and the government of the universe.

v. 6. O come, let us worship and bow down, in humble adoration; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker, to whom we also owe our being, life, and breath.

v. 7. For He is our God, the emphasis being both upon “He” and upon “our”; and we are the people of His pasture, the flock nourished by Him, through His Word, and the sheep of His hand, the flock guided and protected by His almighty hand. Today, if ye will hear His voice, the admonition calling upon all men to decide in favor of the Lord and His Word,

v. 8. harden not your heart, as in the provocation, when the children of Israel contended with the Lord in the wilderness, at Meribah and Massah, Exo 17:7, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when the conduct of the Israelites tested out the Lord’s long-suffering and patience;

v. 9. when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work, this summarizing the Lord’s complaint, Num 14:22.

v. 10. Forty years long, during the entire wilderness journey, was I grieved with this generation, vexed with the people whom He had chosen, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, deliberately following the way of error and sin, and they have not known My ways, they refused to accept the Lord’s precepts governing their conduct;

v. 11. unto whom I sware in My wrath, a section of this solemn oath of Jehovah being quoted here, that they should not enter into My rest. Cf Num 14:30. It was an emphatic declaration, supported by His oath, and it resulted in the death of all those who were above the age of forty at the time of the exodus from Egypt. As far as we Christians are concerned, Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:13 is, in effect, an application of this psalm to the condition in the Church of God at all times, a most searching passage, which we shall do well to heed in these last days of general apostasy.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

THIS is a liturgical psalm, probably composed for the temple service, and still used in the synagogue as one of the Friday evening Psalms which introduce the sabbath. The Western Church has adopted it into its daily “Order for Prayer”a position which it continues to occupy in our own Matins. It consists of two parts (verses 1-7 and verses 7-11), so strongly contrasted, that separatist critics suggest an accidental combination of two quite unconnected fragments (Professor Cheyne). But a deeper and more penetrating exegesis sees in the composition two trains of thought, purposely set over against each otherone joyous, the other plaintive; one setting forth the “goodness” of God, the other his “severity” (Rom 11:22); one inviting to joy and thankfulness, the other to self-examination and repentance; one calling to mind God’s greatness and loving kindness, the other bringing into prominence man’s weakness and danger.

In the Septuagint the psalm is ascribed to David, and this view seems to have been taken by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 4:7). But modern critics are generally of opinion that the style is not that of the Davidical psalms.

Psa 95:1-7

The song of praise. This seems to terminate with the words, “We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Psa 95:1

O come, let us sing unto the Lord. From this opening phrase, which finds an echo in Psa 95:2 and Psa 95:6, this psalm has been called “The Invitatory Psalm.” As it invited the Jews, so it now invites Christian congregations, to join in the worship of the sanctuary. Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation (comp. Psa 33:3; Psa 98:4). Loudness of voice was regarded as indicating earnestness of heart (see 2Ch 20:19; Ezr 3:13; Neh 12:42, etc.). The expression, “Rock of our salvation” is taken from Deu 32:15. It is well paraphrased in our Prayer book Version, “the strength of our salvation.”

Psa 95:2

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Our first duty, when we come before God’s presence, is to thank him (see the Exhortation in the Order for Daily Prayer). And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. A “psalm” is properly a “song of praise“the natural concomitant of thanksgiving.

Psa 95:3

For the Lord is a great God. Thanks and praise are due to God, in the first place, because of his greatness (see Psalm cf. 2). “Who is so great a god as our God?” (Psa 77:13); “His greatness is unsearchable” (Psa 145:3). And a great King above all gods; i.e. “a goat King above all other so called gods“above the great of the earth (Psa 82:1, Psa 82:6), above angels (Deu 10:17), above the imaginary gods of the heathen (Exo 12:12, etc.).

Psa 95:4

In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also; rather, the summits of the mountains are his also. The meaning is that all the earth is his, from the highest heights to the lowest depths.

Psa 95:5

The sea is his, and he made it (see Gen 1:9; Psa 104:24, Psa 104:25). And his hands formed the dry land (see Gen 1:9, Gen 1:10).

Psa 95:6

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel. The outward and visible worship of the body is required of man, no less than the inward and spiritual worship of the soul. Before the Lord our Maker; i.e. “who has made us what we arecreated us, redeemed us, taken us to be his people” (comp. Deu 32:6; Psa 100:3; Psa 102:18; Psa 149:2; Isa 29:23; Isa 43:21; Isa 44:2, etc.).

Psa 95:7

For he is our God. A second, and a more urgent, reason for worshipping God. Not only is he a “great God” (Psa 95:3), but he is also “our God”our own Godbrought into the closest personal relationship with us. And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (comp. Psa 74:1; Psa 79:13; Psa 80:1, etc.). We are led by him, tended by him, fed by him, folded by him. We owe everything to his shepherding.

Psa 95:7-11

The warning against waywardness. This is delivered in four, or rather four and a half, verses, and commences with the words, “Today if ye will hear his voice.”

Psa 95:7

Today. This word, standing prominently forward as it does, is a startling call, intimating that the time is come for a momentous decision. If ye will hear his voice. God is crying to his peoplewill they hear, or will they forbear? If the former, all will go well; if the latter, than assuredly they shall not enter into his rest. The “voice” intended proceeds to give the warning of Psa 95:8-11.

Psa 95:8

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation; rather, as at Meribah (see Exo 17:2-7). And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; rather, and as in the day of Massah. The children of Israel “tempted” God, and “chided” with Moses at Massah (or Meribah) in the wilderness, where water was first given them out of the rock. Their descendants are warned not to follow the example of their forefathers.

Psa 95:9

When your fathers tempted me (see Exo 17:2, Exo 17:7). Proved me; or, “tested me”put my power and goodness to the proof. And (rather, even) saw my work; i.e. “saw the water gush forth from the rock, when at my command Moses struck it” (Exo 17:6).

Psa 95:10

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation; rather, with that generationthe generation that tempted God in the wilderness (see the Revised Version). And said, It is a people that do err in their heart; literally, a people of wanderers in heart are these; i.e. “not only are they a people whose feet wander (Psa 107:4), but their hearts also have wandered and gone astray from my paths.” And they have not known my ways. “My waysthe ways of my commandmentsare unknown to them, untrodden by them.”

Psa 95:11

Unto whom I sware in my wrath; rather, so that that I sware in my wrath, or “wherefore I sware in my wrath” (for the oath itself, see Num 14:21-23; and comp. Deu 1:34, Deu 1:35). That they should not enter into my rest. The “rest” originally intended was that of Canaan, when “the Lord gave rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about” (Jos 23:1). But Canaan was a type of the heavenly rest; and the warning given to the Israel of his day by the present psalmist is to be regarded as a warning that, if they followed in the steps of their forefathers, they might miss of that final and crowning “rest,” which, after the wilderness of this world is traversed, still “remaineth for the people of God” (see Heb 3:7-19; Heb 4:1-9).

HOMILETICS

Psa 95:6

Public worship.

“O come, let us worship.” This sublime psalm belongs to the Christian Church no less than to ancient Israel; in a sense, more. For the series of psalms to which it belongs have a prophetic characterthey look forward to the kingdom and gospel of Christ. Times without number chanted by white-robed priests and Levites in the temple court, to the clang of trumpets, harps, and cymbals, they nevertheless outstretch the narrow bounds of the old covenant. In Psa 100:1-5 (the crown of this series) the widest invitation is given to all nations to join in worshipping Jehovah as their God.

I. AN INVITATION TO WORSHIP. What is worship? Our English word means honour and reverence paid to worthworth-ship. It stands here for a Hebrew word, literally meaning “to fall” or” prostrate one’s self;” i.e. (according to Eastern usage) by kneeling, and touching the ground with the forehead. So Abraham before the angels; Joshua (Jos 5:14); the heavenly worshippers in St. John’s vision (Rev 4:10). So when our Lord was on earth (Luk 5:12); and elsewhere. So it follows: “bow down kneel before the Lord.” Bodily movements are the natural expression of inward emotions. So then spiritual worship is the corresponding feeling; prostration of soulthe knees of the heart. It is the acknowledgment of our dependence; we must add, our sinful unworthiness; and of the infinite worth, majesty, glory, holiness, of our Maker. It is reverence, homage, admiration, carried to the highest pitchadoration. Other feelings, affections, motives, may enter into worshipwonder, gratitude, joy, love, obedience, trust. But worship takes all these, and lays them on the altar, as a whole burnt offering, consumed in the flame of holy awe. All the sentiments which go to make up worship may be claimed by fellow creatures; but only in measure and limit. Not only self-respect, but jealous regard for God’s supreme claim, place such limits. Therefore Cornelius was rebuked by St. Peter, and St. John by the angel (Act 10:26; Rev 22:8, Rev 22:9). But when we behold all good and glorious attributes united in the One Infinite, Self-existent, Eternal Being, the Source of all other being, life, joy, goodness, perfection, reason itself tells us that our worship should be unlimited, absolute. Only blindness, coldness, hardness of heart, and unbelief can prevent the full response of our souls to this invitation. “O come,” etc.

II. AN INVITATION TO PUBLIC UNITED WORSHIP. “Let us worship.” Worship is worthless if not spiritual (Joh 4:22-24). Outward forms without spiritual reality may even be hurtful, dangerous, deadly. And perhaps silent worship may be the highest worship: “groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26). But public, united, vocal worship has great advantages. It prevents our worship from sinking into mere contemplation and meditation. These are most important aids. But worship is not truly worship unless it is actual converse with Godcalling on him, drawing near to him, bowing our souls in his glorious presence. Vocal united prayer or praise greatly helps thishelps us to feel the reality of his presence, and that not only are we thinking of him and addressing him, but that he hears and answers.

III. THIS INVITATION HAS A MEANING AND POWER FOR CHRISTIANS, immeasurably transcending all that it could have for saints of old under the old covenant. Worship has regard not only to what God is in himself, but what he is to us. The pious Israelite worshipped him as “our Maker,” the Judge of all the earth, the God of Israelof Abraham and his children. Christian worship takes in all these considerations. But think what it adds! After this manner pray we, “Our Father, who art in heaven!” We worship the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have fellowship with the Father and the Son. We have received, not the spirit of fear, but the spirit of sonship, teaching us to say, “Abba, Father!” We have access with boldness through the blood of Jesus. The darkness is past, and the true light shineth (Eph 1:2, Eph 1:3; Eph 3:14; 2Co 4:6; 1Jn 1:3; Rom 8:15; Eph 3:12; Heb 10:19; 1Jn 2:8). Wonderful is the longing desire, holy boldness, nearness to God, of many of the ancient saints (Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2, and many other passages)! What ought our worship to be, standing on so far higher a level, where in privilege and knowledge “the least in the kingdom of heaven” is greater than the greatest of them!

CONCLUSION.

1. The possession of spiritual life is an indispensable condition to the offering of spiritual worship (Joh 4:24).

2. Public worship is not only a means of blessing, a privilege, an enjoyment; it is a high and solemn duty. Christians should take earnest pains to fit themselves for taking part in it.

3. Those who lead the praises of the Church (choristers) have a sacred ministry, calling for consecration of heart as well as ear and voice or (organist’s) fingers.

HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY

Psa 95:1-11

The invitatory psalm.

It has been thus called in Christian Liturgies throughout Christendom, and chiefly because of its fervent invitation to praise. But it is also an equally earnest invitation to hearken and to believe. Let us take that which stands at the beginning, and consider

I. THE INVITATION TO PRAISE. In this is shown:

1. To whom the praise is to be rendered. It is to Jehovah, the Rock of our salvation.

2. Think of the many ministries which the word “rock“ reminds us of. Shade: for God was to his people as “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land;” and he is so still. Defence: “Thou art my Rock and my Fortress.” Strength: “Thou hast set my feet upon a rock.” Supply: “He smote the rock,” etc. (Psa 78:20; Psa 81:16). Dwelling place: we read both in Isaiah and Jeremiah of “the inhabitants of the rock.” Such were the ideas that gathered round this name of the Lord which the psalm summons men to praise.

3. The manner of the praise. It was to be by joyful song and resonant shout, with thanksgiving and with psalms. So hearty, so jubilant, so universal, so emphatic, was to be the praise of the Lord. But in verse 6 there is the call to yet more profound adoration and worship, since yet higher manifestations of God’s grace are to be commemorated. Therefore note:

4. The reasons for all this worship. And

(1) because of what God issupreme over all the gods of the heathen;

(2) because of his rule over the whole earthits depths, its heights, the sea, and the land;

(3) becauseand here comes the summons to the higher praise spoken ofof what God is to his peopletheir Maker, their God, the Giver of their peace and rest (cf. Psa 23:1-6; “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”); so his people are “the people of his pasture.” He is also their Guide, Defender, Ruler”the sheep of his hand.” Such are the groundsand surely they are adequatefor this reverent and yet exultant worship. And they all remain still.

II. THE CALL TO HEAR GOD‘S VOICE. (Verse 8.) For as the former verses had told of the rich and lofty privileges of the people of God, so these tell of their great perilthe peril of unbelief. This had been their ruin in days gone by, in all that weary forty years. Nothing else could harm them; but this wrought all their woo (cf. Heb 4:6-9). And what was true of old and of Israel, is true today and of ourselves. The righteous live by faith; no unbeliever can enter into God’s rest.

III. THE CALL TO FAITH. For this is the condition of our obtaining the prize of our high calling. The rest of God is God’s reward to his faithful peoplea rest not alone in heaven hereafter, but here and now, whilst in this world, which Christ promises to give, and does give. Saints of old knew it; saints today enter into it. Christ dwelt in it, and so may weif we believe.S.C.

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK

Psa 95:1

Everybody called to praise God.

The call to offer God joyful thanksgiving is made to everybody, without qualification or limitation. It may be that certain forms of Divine worship are properly reserved for those who are in certain states of mind, or have voluntarily entered into certain relations; but the common duties of thanksgiving rest on all humanitythe claims of the God of providence and mercy should be felt, and should be responded to, by every man made in the Divine image. A strange notion has been allowed to gain some acceptance, that praise and thanksgiving from the unconverted can never be acceptable to God. The Scriptures give no countenance whatever to such a notion. Every man is invited to praise God as well as he can. What God resists is insincerity. It does not matter how imperfect the praise may be, if it is but sincere. The terms of the text imply the union of music and song in God’s worship. The psalmist invites to a full burst of instrumental and vocal music, which will use up all kinds of human talents. Being a general call, it is a call to worship God with thanksgiving, which every man may be expected to feel; not with penitence, which only a few may feel.

I. ALL MEN MAY JOIN IN RECOGNIZING WHAT GOD IS TO ALL MEN.

1. God the Creator. Open out the idea that what God could say of his daily handiwork, “Behold, it is very good,” man, observing the further workings, the operations, of what God has made, can repeat after him. Explain that, in a large way, man could always, by observation, see the goodness of God in creation; in minute detail man’s science sees it still.

2. God the Provider. “Giving to all their meat in due season.” Here show that the extraordinary, such as provision of manna, only illustrates the ordinary, God giving all their daily bread.

3. God the Saviour. In the lower sense of Preserver, Defender, Deliverer, from the common ills and perils of life. Apart, then, from all theological distinctions, all men should praise God.

II. SOME MEN MAY JOIN IN RECOGNIZING WHAT GOD IS TO SOME MEN.

1. Some men have special personal experiences of God’s dealings.

2. Some men know God as their Saviour from sin.R.T.

Psa 95:4, Psa 95:5

The beautiful and sublime calling to devotion.

There is a remarkable diversity in the psalms. Some express the struggling of earnest souls with the moral difficulties and mysteries of life (see Asaph’s psalms). Some express the varieties of experience characterizing individual religious experience (see Psa 42:1-11.). The psalm now before us is one that expresses the influences of the varied aspects of nature upon the culture of religions life and feeling (see also Psa 19:1-14; Psa 104:1-35; Psa 147:1-20.). These poetical nature psalms are as true to humanity, as necessary and as helpful, as those whose influence seems more direct. Man’s Bible is poetical. It should be, because the poetical is one of man’s faculties. It is the side of his nature on which he is set in harmony with the suggestive in material creation. By the poetical faculty we need not mean the power of making poetry. It is the power to receive and respond to the impressions made on us by God’s handiwork. Nothing quickens and nourishes the faculty as religion does. Faith and hope are nearly allied to imagination; and they cannot fail to culture it. In this psalm it is evident that the beautiful and sublime in nature is impressing the psalmist, filling him with reverence, leading him to personal devotion, and inciting him to call upon others to share with him in worship.

I. THE GREAT THINGS OF NATURE IMPRESS ALL MEN. Many of us may seem to be under grave disadvantage, because we live in a crowded city, a man-made city, an unaesthetic city. But even cities cannot wholly shut out the changing moods of nature. Smoke cannot hide the firmament, the sunshine, or the stars. Business cannot make us unmindful of the seasons, the winds, and the rains. Men’s buildings cannot alter the conformation of the ground that makes the landscapes. And the very disabilities of city people only make them more open to nature influences when they can get away into the country. The beautiful and sublime will not always produce their due impression on us. Poets are not always equally sensitive. So much depends on our circumstances and on our moods. And therefore how important is the spirit in which we go into the country; the kind of society we seek there; and especially the quietness, the loneliness, we gain in which we may listen to nature’s voice! Crowded trains, crowded piers, crowded seashores, crowded lodgings, too easily crowd men out of their spirituality. Can we recall times when nature has borne upon us with all its holiest force? At such times we were our real selves, our noblest selves; God touched us with his nature hand, and we felt the touch. Illustrate by the impressions of moor, mountain, seashore, sunset, or tempest. Upon David the voice of nature fell often, and found an exquisite sensitiveness that was partly his disposition, and partly his piety. Believe, then, in kinness between yourself and the grand in creation; and learn to expect that nature messages will come to you.

II. THE GREAT THINGS OF NATURE CALL TRUE–HEARTED MEN TO DEVOTION AND WORSHIP. To many men, warped and biassed by education and association, the great things of hills and seas and skies speak only of a higher power. If man is simple, true-hearted, they speak of the personal being of God. “The sea is his.“ The psalmist does not merely assert a fact; he asserts a man’s feeling concerning the fact. We can have no reverence, no devotion, for the vague thinga power. Reverence and devotion can only be felt m relation to a living being. So we must guard our faith in God, the living God. If open-hearted, nature makes us feel the kinness of man with creation in its daily dependence on God. “He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” Our minds, receiving impressions of glory from earth and sky, transfer them to God. If this his handiwork be so glorious and so gracious, what must he himself be? And if all things depend on him, how should we bow before him, and worship? “Oh how I fear thee, living God!” But a further impression comes. That which fills us with reverence and worship is God’s voice to humanity, and it reaches the whole brotherhood of men. So we become dissatisfied with lonely worship, and want to say, with the psalmist, “Come, let us worship and bow down.” Search, then, and see what is the influence of the holiday times of life upon us. Have they made us more reverent, more devout, more earnest in our religious life and service? Do they give us a worthier sense of the value of common worship; and fill us with a holier determination “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”?R.T.

Psa 95:6

Associated and public prayer.

1. In meeting together for public prayer, we follow the impulses of our own hearts, as well as obey the commands of our God. Prayer and worship are connected with our whole relation to God. God is in direct relation to the spirits that we are. We feel this, and therefore we must pray for spiritual blessings. God is in direct relation to the bodies that we have. They are his making, the care of his providence. They are subject to weariness and disease; they are the mediums of our virtue and of our vice. Out of the sense of the relation of our bodies to God, we are impelled to pray for temporal blessings. And God is also in close relation to our associations with one anotherto our associations as families, as Churches, as fellow worshippers, and as citizens. Our best welfare, in all these relations, depends on him who is Lord of all natural laws, Lord of storms, Lord of harvests, Lord of sunshine, Lord of the wrath of men, and Lord too of their wealth. Let any man feel this, as every true man, every thinking man, must feel it, and that man will be impelled by his own spirit to meet with others, and say to others, “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” God deals with us collectively here on earth. We may not think of separate Churches in heaven; of organized families in heaven. There are no towns, with distinct town interests, in heaven; no nations, with national qualities and national interests, in heaven. It is peculiar to our present human scenes that God deals with us collectively. This need not relieve our sense of individual responsibility. We do but show what a basis is laid for collective prayer, for public worship, in this fact, that God deals collectively with us. He can punish individuals in another world for their individual wrongdoings. He can only punish nations, as nations, for their national wrong doings, in this sphere. Collectively, God regards us; then collectively we should pray, collectively we should worship, collectively we should live for God. The man that refuses to join in public worship is breaking away from his humanity; and denying the gracious conditions and responsibilities under which God has placed him. It is a more familiar truth, that sharing in public worship is the direct command of our God.

2. What are the reasons which keep men from the performance at all, or from the due performance of this duty of public worship? To put our reasons out into the full blaze of the light is often sufficient to wither them up, and to make us altogether ashamed of them. Perhaps some persuade themselves to say, “Your worship is not really intended for us: it is for Christians, and we do not want to intrude.” It is a mistake. God’s worship is for men, all men, all God-made men, whether they fit in with our idea of what God would have them be or not. Some stay from public worship because they cannot arrange their domestic affairs so as conveniently to attend it. Be sure that you have really tried and failed, before you rest in this excuse. Most stay away from sheer indifference, from the carelessness which settles down over souls that willingly live to self and sin. Some men are indisposed to worship; and it is this indisposition with which we have to deal.

3. Under the terms, “associated, and public worship,” three forms may be indicated.

(1) Family prayer. When the devoted Richard Baxter lived in Kidderminster, it is said there was not a house in which the evensong of praise might not be heard, and the uplifted prayer of earnest hearts. The rush of modem business life has swept away much family prayer.

(2) Social prayer. Times when two or three meet together, to plead the promise made to two of the disciples who agree to ask. The smaller meetings are specially fruitful in spiritual blessings.

(3) Public prayer. The services of the sanctuaries. The spiritual antitypes of the old temple worship at Jerusalem, “whither the tribes go up.” Public worship sustains, as nothing else can do, our dependence on God, the Creator, the Provider, the Redeemer. “He made us, and not we ourselves;” “He redeemeth our life from destruction.” He “sent his Son into the world, that we might live through him.” Then surely we ought “to worship and bow down.”R.T.

Psa 95:7

Our moral relations with God.

“People of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” Some writers try to amend this sentence, because the poetical figure seems complicated. It is much better to leave it in its poetical suggestiveness. It indicates familiarity with Eastern shepherding. The shepherd lives with his flock day and night; feels for them a personal affection; tends them in all their times of need with his own hands. So the Eastern sheep and shepherd figures, for God and his people, are stronger and more suggestive than we can realize if we keep ourselves to Western shepherd associations. In so carefully putting people into one sentence, and sheep into the other, the psalmist reminds us that God’s sheep are moral beings, and the mere physical relations of shepherds to their sheep do but represent and illustrate the moral relations in which God stands to his people as moral beings. So we rise into a sphere in which we need the help of another figurethat of the father and his family. The “Lord our Maker” here brings God before us as the Universal Creator; and as the Founder of the Israelite nation.

I. OUR MORAL RELATIONS WITH GOD INCLUDE OUR CHARACTERS. Illustrate from the shepherd’s estimate of each sheep. But the end at which the shepherd aims is health, fatness. The end at which God aims is cultured, developed, perfected character. And this is the Divine aim forevery man, and the Divine work in every man. If we can see the issue more plainly reached in some men than in others, this need not dim our confidence that the work is going on in all.

II. OUR MORAL RELATIONS WITH GOD INCLUDE OUR MOODS. For no man can study human nature without observing that men are constantly acting, on occasion, out of harmony with their characters. The difficulty of dealing wisely with children lies in their occasional strange lapses and oddities. God bears shepherd-like relation to the odd moods of his moral beings.

III. OUR MORAL RELATIONS WITH GOD INCLUDE OUR SINS. This brings us into a very familiar field, and opens to view the redeeming and sanctifying work of God. These moral relations of God to us are the real reason why we should “worship and bow down.”R.T.

Psa 95:8

Divided feeling in man.

The psalmist assumes that they wish to hear God’s voice, and yet there is danger of their hardening their heart. That double feeling is constantly to be found in men. They are forever putting stumbling blocks in their own way. The head will often hinder the heart, and the heart will often hinder the head. Man is a single being, and he is his own true self only when all the forces of his nature act in harmony together. But man can make himself into a dual being, and start a strife within himself that will prove morally destructive. Illustrate by the devil possessed in the time of Christ. There was strife in the men. Their will pulled one way, the mastering will that was upon them pulled the other. Or take the modern case of delirium tremens. Here in our text we have the power which lies in man to hinder himself. He may “harden his heart,” and so silence every high and noble desire he may feel. This hardening of the heart is always a man’s own act to begin with, and God’s act to finish with. A man sets himself upon resisting right impressions and persuasions; he finds it easier a second time and a third; he is hardening so that the persuasions have little effect, and God at last puts his seal on the hardening, and the persuasions roll off altogether.

I. WHEN A MAN WANTS TO WORSHIP GOD, HE CAN HARDEN HIS HEART BY ENCOURAGING DOUBTS. Some one is ever ready to whisper, “Is there a God at all? If there is, is he really a good God? If he is good, might he not have done a great deal more for you?” Give room to such doubts, and all interest in worship will soon take to itself wings and flee away.

II. WHEN A MAN WANTS TO WORSHIP GOD, HE CAN HARDEN HIS HEART BY MURMURINGS. Illustrate from the historical allusion to Meribah (Exo 17:1-7). If anybody wants to murmur, he can easily find something to murmur about. There is a sunny side and a dark side to almost everything; and, if a man chooses, he can see only the dark side; and, if he does, he will surely spoil all desire for worship, all grounds for thanksgiving.R.T.

Psa 95:8

The sin of tempting God.

Tempting God is putting him to the test, as if you did not feel quite sure of him, and could not fully trust him. The idea of the word is “assay,” “test,” as the refiner does metals, or as the chemist or analyst may do to substances submitted to him. It is always implied that the man who proves the thing either does not know what it is or is uncertain about it. It is just that ignorance and uncertainty which God’s people never should have concerning him. It is that doubting God which makes all attempts to test and prove him altogether wrong. Take the case of Israel at Meribah, and show that, in view of the Divine deliverances, guidings, providings, and defendings, any attempt to prove whether God really cared for them, and could help them, was absolutely unworthy; it amounted, indeed, to an insult offered to their covenant King.

I. PUTTING GOD TO THE PROOF MAY BE PERMISSIBLE. But the conditions are very clear. If a man wants to believe, and wants encouragement to faith, God will permit him to put him to the proof. This is illustrated, in a very different way, by the sign of the fleece asked by Gideon. The rightness or wrongness of asking the sign depended entirely on the state of Gideon’s mind and feeling. He wanted help to belief, so he may put God to the test. Circumstances may arise now which may allow of our proving God; but that work should never be attempted save at the utmost strain.

II. PUTTING GOD TO THE PROOF IS GENERALLY UNPERMISSIBLE. Because generally it implies doubt of God’s power, or faithfulness, or mercy. See the mood of the Israelites; and see the spirit in which the scribes and Pharisees came, putting Jesus to the test. They did not want to believe in him. They wanted to get something which would encourage their unbelief. So Jesus refused, saying, “There shall no sign be given unto them.” Keep right attitudes and moods of mind, and right relations with God, and then it will never come into our minds to attempt to put him to the test.R.T.

Psa 95:11

Divine judgments on the unbeleving.

“They should not enter into my rest.” As the reference is clearly to the murmurings of the Israelites at Meribah, the “rest” referred to can only be the anticipated rest of settlement in the promised land of Canaan. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews finds a further meaning, or rather suggestion, in the word; but we may seek for the first and direct teaching of the passage.

1. Notice that God is said to have been grieved with the effort made to test or tempt him; but his grief is not to be thought of as distress, it is rather that he was “moved with indignation,” and therefore found an immediate and severe judgment necessary.

2. Notice that the basis of all the wrong in Israel is recognized as unbelief; but that is not here an intellectual sin, it is a heart sin; it is not “inability to believe,” it is “untrustfulness,” and untrustfulness when God had laid down such abundant grounds for their trust.

3. Notice that the judgment fell upon the generation, and not upon the race. In all God’s judgments that recognize personal failings, we may find personal suffering and loss, but no frustration of the Divine purposes. The untrustful generation died in the wilderness; but the race, in good time, entered and possessed the “rest” of Canaan.

4. Notice that our own human feelings enable us to understand the Divine indignation. All good men love to be trusted. You can never so sorely try a good man as by failing to trust him. This applies even more strongly to those who are in close, loving, family relations with us. The supreme indignity, to our humble view, is a son failing to trust a good mother. Work out the various relations in which God, the infinitely Good One, stood to Israel, and stands to us; and so bring to view the shame of our untrustfulness, and the reasonableness of our coming under disciplining Divine judgments.R.T.

HOMILIES BY C. SHORT

Psa 95:1-11

Public worship-its necessity and advantage.

I. ITS NATURE.

1. Thanksgiving and praise. (Psa 95:1, Psa 95:2.) We need special seasons for thinking over our privileges and cultivating gratitude, and the utterance of the spirit of praise.

2. Adoration and prayer. (Psa 95:6.) God’s love thus a cause for our cleansing. Christ’s promises and grace inexhaustible. Who can drink the river of his love dry? Confession and supplication.

3. Listening to the voice of God. (Psa 95:7.) In his spoken Word and in our own hearts. Hearing what God speaks to us is as much worship as our speaking to God.

II. REASONS OF WORSHIP.

1. God‘s supremacy. (Psa 95:3-5.) Here is the theme of the loftiest praise; a reason for the largest prayers; and an argument for submission to his perfect will.

2. God‘s tender guardianship. “He is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” intimate relationship to him: “our God.” Living upon his bounty: “people of his pasture.” We are being guided by him: “sheep of his hand.”

3. God‘s oath against those who are hardened. “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.”

4. He is the Rock of our salvation. (Psa 95:1.) The eternal Foundation and Shelter of the soul.S.

Psa 95:4-6

The material universe and its lessons.

“In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.” The material universe suggests

I. THE PROFOUND MYSTERY OF SELF–EXISTENCE. Is it eternal, self-existent; or has it come from God in the way of direct creation or evolution? Self-existence an impossible conception, whether of the universe or of God; but it is also impossible to avoid it and find a substitute; only impossible to conceive of two self-existences.

II. IF THE UNIVERSE IS EVOLVED FROM GOD, THEN IT MUST BE A REVELATION OF PART OF HIS NATURE. Shows that God takes delight in material strength and beauty as well as in spiritual. The infinite variety of conceptions embodied. The infinite skill in the construction of the infinitely little and the infinitely great. But this only of a part of his nature, and that not the highest.III. MANIFESTATION OF POWER. “Who by his strength setteth fast the mountains, being girded with power.” Seas and mountains only functional examples of his power. The vastness of the universe. The child that Augustine saw ladling the sea into a hole in the sand. “Not more impossible than for you to empty the universe into your intellect.”IV. THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE GENERATES IN US THE SENSE OF WEAKNESS AND INSIGNIFICANCE. But mind, conscience, heart, are the only things that are eternally great. Mountains will melt, and seas dry up. “He is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” “It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” We are his children.S.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Psalms 95.

An exhortation to praise God, for his greatness and for his goodness; and not to tempt him.

THIS psalm was written by David; for the apostle to the Hebrews cites a passage out of it under his name. See Heb 4:7. It seems to have been intended as a solemn invitation of the people, when they were assembled together on some public occasion, to praise their God, and to hear instructions out of his law. But it also plainly relates to the days of Christ, as the Jews themselves acknowledge, and as the apostle proves fully in the third and fourth chapters of the epistle before mentioned.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Psalms 95

1O come, let us sing unto the Lord:

Let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation.

2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,

And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

3For the Lord is a great God,

And a great King above all gods.

4In his hand are the deep places of the earth:

The strength of the hills is his also.

5The sea is his, and he made it:

And his hands formed the dry land.

6O come, let us worship and bow down:

Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

7For he is our God;

And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

To-day if ye will hear his voice,

8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation,

And as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9When your fathers tempted me,

Proved me and saw my work.

10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation,

And said, It is a people that do err in their heart,

And they have not known my ways:

11Unto whom I sware in my wrath

That they should not enter into my rest.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Contents and Composition.The Church is called upon to praise Jehovah (Psa 95:1-2); first, because of His exaltation as the supreme God and Creator (Psa 95:3-5). The call is then repeated, being supported by the relation which the Church bears to Him, and coupled with the exhortation to listen to His voice on that very day (Psa 95:6-7). Finally, the declaration of God to His people, which draws its warnings from the history of the march through the wilderness, is announced (Psa 95:8-11). No clue is afforded to the time of composition. Its fruitful application typically is shown in Heb 3:7-11; Heb 4:3-7. The Sept. has the superscription: Psalm of praise of David. The expression in Heb 4:7 : , does not refer to the person of David, but to the Book of Psalms named after him.The Romish Church begins its daily officium with this Psalm, according to the rendering of Psa 95:2 : proccupemus faciem ejus.

Psa 95:3-4. Above all gods.This expression refers, as do also Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9, to the incomparable exaltation of God. It is not angels (Calvin) who are meant, but gods of the heathen (Exo 15:11; Exo 18:11). Yet a real existence is not ascribed to them. They are in Psa 96:5; Psa 97:7, after Lev 19:4; Lev 26:1, and frequently in Isaiah, called , with cutting irony.In Psa 95:4, instead of summit, it is not advisable to translate: mines, of the mountains (Bttcher), although the etymology is obscure, and the meaning therefore doubtful also in Num 23:22; Num 24:8; Job 22:25. [The rendering strength in E. V. is derived from the meaning which the word must have in the first two passages above cited, where it is applied to the buffalo. Most recent critics concur in giving the translation of Dr. Moll: heights, or summit, which is that of the Septuagint. The primary idea being that of weariness, the derivation is supposed to be connected with it, by the nature of the fatigue occasioned by the ascent of a great elevationJ. F. M.]

Psa 95:7-9. We must not render: sheep of His care (Btt.), though the hand is perhaps not the creating hand, which has made the people the flock of God (Isa 19:25; Isa 64:7; Psa 80:6), but the guiding and protecting hand (Gen 30:35).To-day. By the position of at the beginning of its clause, the day on which Gods voice is not only heard, but is also obeyed, is set forth as a day of decision. The would lead us to expect an apodosis, but, when this is wanting, it gives to the clause which it introduces an optative meaning. There lay stamped already upon the names Meribah and Massah [E. V., provocationtemptation,] the events which occurred there (Exo 17:1-7, Num 20:1 ff.), and they could therefore be so much the more easily applied typically (Psa 83:10, comp. Num 14:22; Deu 6:16; Deu 33:8; Psa 78:18; Psa 78:41; Psa 78:56; Psa 106:14).In verse 9b. the meaning is not: although they saw my wonderful working (De Wette, Kster, Hengst., Del.), but: they also observed my retributive dealing (Luther, Geier, Ewald, Hupfeld, Hitzig).

Psa 95:10 f. We should not render: with that generation (Sept.), although the generation living at that time and suffering from that judgment is primarily referred to. The absence of the article rather indicates a general reference, and facilitates the application to men of like character in any circumstances. The oath of God (Psa 95:11) follows Num 14:21 f., comp. Deu 1:35. The rest is primarily the place of settlement granted by God (Num 10:33; Deu 12:9; 1Ki 8:56; Isa 11:10; Psa 132:8; Psa 132:14), but includes the idea of rest after wandering, and, according to Heb 4:8 f., may be employed as a type of the eternal rest.The Sept. read in Psa 95:6 weep, instead of: bow down: and many ancient psalteries have after the Cod. Vat. of the Sept. the addition to Psa 95:3 : because the Lord will not reject His people.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. God, as the firm and sure ground of all help and of our salvation (Psa 89:27; Psa 94:22), is the worthy object of the praise of His adoring Church. But, when His people assemble to praise Him, they must remember that they appear before the face of Him who, exalted as the only true God above all beings that are honored by men as Divine, is the Creator of all things and the Shepherd of His people. They are, therefore, to humble themselves before Him as the One who is alone worthy of adoration, trust in Him as the Controller of all, and, in the obedience of faith, follow Him as their Guide.

2. Gods people worshipping in His sanctuary have, for the reasons and with the aim above-mentioned, both to raise their own voices to God, and to listen to His voice addressed to them. Both of these are essential to true devotion, and not only express the lively nature of the relations which exist between God and His Church, but promote also their intimacy, reality, and strength. God will preserve, protect, and rule the people of His Church as His flock, not merely physically, temporally, and outwardly, but will also spiritually, eternally, and inwardly care for them, revive them, and sanctify them for His own inheritance. For this end He employs especially His holy word, by which He compels none, but invites, instructs, and directs all.
3. In order to praise God truly, and to follow His guidance with docility, the heart must be surrendered to Him; and history, including that of Gods word, teaches us how seldom and with what difficulty men yield to this demand, and how often, on the other hand, and how easily, they, even with Gods judgments before them, and with the evidences of His blessings around them, harden themselves even to obduracy. Then they go astray in the wilderness, and do not arrive at rest with God, since in their hearts they have wandered away from Him. As long as the voice of God over us calls upon us to hear by rebuke and punishment, we are still far from the goal. But we can learn from His voice, still sounding through the Church in the preaching of His word, that we are upon the way. And from the fact that long after the time of Moses, and again after that of David, God caused such a call to be sounded forth in the Church, and appointed days of decision, impressing upon mens minds the severity of the judgment and the preciousness of the day of grace which still runs on, we may learn that, with the possession of Canaan, neither the blessedness of Israel nor the teaching of God came to an end, but that there still remains a rest for the people of God.
[Hengstenberg: The Psalm has its full significance for the Christian Church, inasmuch as we stand in the same relation to the second coming of the Lord, of whose time and hour we know nothing, as the people of the Old Testament did to the first.J. F. M.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

There is reason enough for daily thanksgiving, but is there delight in it?It is a telling accusation of our forgetfulness, indolence, and ingratitude that we need to be called upon to praise God.All worship is based upon an acknowledgment of the Divine majesty, creative omnipotence, and watchful love of the Eternal.We are not merely to feel what we have to thank God for and what we owe to Him, but to express it also in word and deed.Thou hast, perhaps, a desire to speak with God; art thou also inclined to hear and to obey Him? He who would come into the rest of God, must hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and feed in His pastures as a member of His flock.We are to-day still upon our pilgrimage; to-day we hear still the voice of God; to-day we can still seek the face of the Eternal; why then do so many wander about in the wilderness and perish?When Gods people tempt Him instead of trusting Him, they will not stand in the day of trial.

Starke: If our hearts were not by nature so slow to serve and praise God, He would not need to awaken and encourage us.The world rejoices and shouts in its service of sin; how it puts to shame the children of God, who are often so indolent in the far more blessed employment of praising Him!The more thou wilt meditate upon the greatness of our God, the more tiny and insignificant will created things and thine own fancied greatness appear in thine eyes.A Christian does not know how to humble himself sufficiently before God even in behaviour. It is ever with him as with the Psalmist: I will yet be more vile than this before the Lord (2Sa 6:22)The whole good of the believer is contained in one word: God is his God.As certain as are the oaths of God, whereby He promises life and blessedness to the penitent, so certain are those by which He announces eternal destruction to the obstinate ungodly.

Frisch: Gods anger falls suddenly; and then it is too late to do what is not already done.Tholuck: Gods words speak loudly, and afford an inexhaustible subject of grateful songs of praise.Guenther: A rest still remains even for the people of the Dispersion, but the way thither lies over Golgotha.Diedrich: God Himself is the Rock on which our salvation rests, and that is one great consolation, for if it rested on our own strength, it would be a tottering support.Taube: God, who is worthy to be praised, who has led the people of His pasture to Himself through the acceptable days of salvation, and who feeds them until the full enjoyment of the eternal Sabbath rest, calls upon us to triumph in His power and mercy; but the warning example of those of old, the shortness of today, the sweeping progress and terrible deceitfulness of sin, the labyrinth of errors in our own hearts, call upon us o exercise a holy fear of the Lord.

[Matth. Henry: The more experience we have had of the power and goodness of God, the greater is our sin if we distrust Him. What, to tempt Him in the wilderness when we live upon Him! This is as ungrateful as it is absurd and unreasonableHardness of heart is at the bottom of all our distrusts of God and quarrels with Him. That is a hard heart which receives not the impressions of Divine discoveries, and conforms not to the intentions of the Divine will; which will not melt, which will not bend.

Hengstenberg: The more clearly God makes Himself known, the more base is our conduct, if we only put Him to the test in time of need; as though He could not till then give proof of His true Divinity.J. F. M.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This is a gospel Psalm, from beginning to end. The rock of whom it speaks is Christ, and the salvation it sings is his. It forms an earnest exhortation of the church, that every heart should join in praises to the God of salvation.

Psa 95:1

We cannot possibly err in our application of what is here said, by referring to Jesus and his church; since the Holy Ghost himself hath condescended to give his own comment upon it, Heb 3 and Heb 4 where the blessed Spirit expressly saith, the day spoken of in this Psalm means the gospel day, and that Christ is the rock of our salvation. 1Co 10:4 . So believers are enjoined by the Holy Ghost to invite one another to sing the praises of Jehovah, their Rock, their Jesus, their salvation.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 95

This Psalm, the Venite exultemus Domino, ‘O come, let us sing unto the Lord,’ was the chant of the Templars, the Knights of the Red Cross, when during the Crusades they entered into battle with the Saracens for the conquest of Jerusalem.

In a different spirit the great missionary, Christian Schwartz, took the 6th verse, and put it over the entrance of his new church in Tranquebar: ‘O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker’. He called the church Bethlehem, as his predecessor, Ziegenbalg, had built one with the name Jerusalem, which was filled with native converts.

A Seaside Sermon

Psa 95:5

When we remember that the extent of the sea may be roughly estimated at 146,000,000 English square miles, or nearly three-fourths of the whole surface of the globe, and when we recall the fact that the Bible abounds in illustrations from nature, we might well be astonished if there were no reference to this sublime portion of creation. Until recently, little was known of the physical aspects of the sea, and therefore the allusions to the ocean in the Word of God are such as would occur to any thoughtful observer entirely ignorant of modern science. For example, the silent but mighty force of evaporation is one of the chief features of the sea system, and the wise man thus refers to it: ‘Unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return’. Again, the Psalmist says, ‘He layeth up the deep as in a treasure-house’. Consider the ocean as emblematic of three things: (1) of the unrest and instability of human life; (2) of national anarchy and revolution; (3) of mystery.

I. The sea, in the Bible, is a symbol of the unrest and instability of human life. This feature of the ocean has been the natural thought of men in all ages. It is true that there is no mention of the tides in the Bible, as is natural. The Mediterranean is not a tidal sea.

This unrest of the ocean surface caused by the tides, the winds, the influence of rivers, the mighty currents which are ever exchanging the heavier and colder waters of the polar seas for the lighter and warmer waters of the tropical ocean, and again reversing the action, cause the sea to be ‘ever restless’. There need no words of mine to speak of the constant changes of ‘our life’s wild restless sea’. The experience is universal. As unconscious infants received ‘into Christ’s holy Church,’ the prayer went up for us that ‘being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity,’ we might so ‘pass the waves of this troublesome world that finally’ we might ‘come to the land of everlasting life’; and in that service which will be read over each one of us, unless the Lord come first, to which the heart of every mourner will respond, will be heard words that speak of the recurring changes of human life: ‘Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.’ This unrest of the sea is more than superficial. It is not only outward but inward. There is a constant oceanic circulation necessary to its salubrity. The silent action of the sun, ever absorbing and ever increasing the specific gravity of the surface waters, causes a vertical action. The heavier waters above are ever sinking below, and the lighter waters below are ever rising above. Again, many of the sea currents influence the lower waters the Gulf Stream, e.g., is more than 300 feet deep as it crosses the Atlantic. Besides this, every single mollusc or coralline secretes solid matter for its cell which the sea holds in solution; and that very act of secretion destroys the equilibrium of the ocean, because the specific gravity of that portion of the water from which the coralline abstracts the solid matter is altered. In the remembrance of such facts as these, how true and forcible are the words of Isaiah: ‘The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest’. ‘There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked.’ If the surface disturbance of the ocean pictures the changing nature of our outward life, the hidden and unseen restlessness of the sea, even when its surface seems most calm, portrays the inquietude of hearts which have not found rest in Christ. ‘The wicked are (1) outwardly restless, and (2) their souls are ever ejecting ungodly and unlovely thoughts.’

II. The unrest of the sea is used in the Bible as a striking emblem of national anarchy and revolution rising beyond the control of established governments.

III. The sea is the one object in nature which is most emblematic of mystery. I cannot recall a single instance of any well-known writer on the ocean who does not refer to this aspect of its being Schleiden has drawn a charming but imaginary picture of the ocean depths from a number of individual objects brought up, but this description is a ‘fancy sketch of the unknown’ ‘fiction founded on fact’. Deeply interesting as are the records of deepsea soundings, each product which adheres to the tallow ‘arming’ of the sounding lead is, for the most part, to use the figure of Mr. Gosse, ‘like the brick which the Greek fool carried about as a sample of the house he had to let’. The sea, like a thick curtain, hides the secrets of nature from the ken of man.

The sea is a striking emblem of the mysteries which must ever meet and surround the finite in contemplation of the infinite. The student of nature is brought face to face with mystery at every turn. The profoundest men of science have confessed that, in proportion to their acquisition of knowledge, they have discovered a never-ending area of mystery as in the night, the further a light extends, the wider the surrounding sphere of darkness appears.

The Divine Being retires within Himself. He ‘holdeth back the face of His throne, and spreadeth His cloud upon it’. He ‘leadeth the blind by a way that they know not’. The operations of an Infinite Being must of necessity be as a ‘great deep’ to our limited apprehensions.

And this very mysteriousness, this making darkness His secret place, this inscrutability of counsel, is calculated to call forth a degree of reverence, and to develop in His people a childlike trust and confidence, which could be evoked in no other way. The danger of the theology of the present day is the seeking to eliminate all mystery from God. An Egyptian who, carrying something in a napkin, being asked what it was, answered that it was covered that no man should see it. We may well pray with good Bishop Hall, ‘O Lord, let me be blessed with the knowledge of what Thou hast revealed; let me content myself to adore Thy Divine wisdom in what Thou hast not revealed. So, let me enjoy Thy light that I may avoid Thy fire.’ ‘What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.’ In heaven ‘there shall be no more sea’ no more dark and painful mysteries, no obscurity, no misconception. There difficulties will be solved and parables will be interpreted. ‘Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.’ If, with reference to the mysteries of Providence, we acknowledge with the Psalmist that ‘clouds and darkness are round about Him,’ the more we study Revelation the more we realize that God is a Being who covereth Himself ‘with light as with a garment’.

J. W. Bardsley, Many Mansions, p. 128.

References. XCV. 4. J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 216. XCV. 6. R. E. Hutton, The Grown of Christ, p. 319. H. R. Heywood, Sermons and Addresses, p. 105. J. Vaughan, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xix. p. 417. F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv. p. 369. XCV. 7, 8. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi. No. 1551. XCV. 8. J. T. Bramston, Sermons to Boys, p. 80.

Psa 95:6

These words contain a spirit-stirring call to sing God’s praise.

I. Who that has any true piety in his heart will not in his first moments of waking bethink him of the great Power who has watched over him, and kept him alive, and desire to make some acknowledgment of His goodness?

II. The contemplation of God’s works seen in the creation is calculated to fill our souls with noble and worthy thoughts about God. It is calculated to make us humble in our estimate of ourselves, as forming a small part in the mighty whole.

III. And these two things high reverence for the Holy God, coupled with a sense of our own unworthiness, help to make accepted worship.

IV. When we come to present ourselves before God, let us remember the amazing difference and distance between ourselves and the object of our worship.

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons (3rd Series), p. 176.

Wrong in the Heart

Psa 95:10

We must get at the notion that people, including ourselves first and foremost, are in the sight of God wrong at the heart. It is there that revivals take place. A revival is not a reformation; a true spiritual revival is not a universal washing of face and hands. There are many who have doubts and hesitations about what theologians are disposed to call the Fall; I will not discuss that question; my business is not with the Fall, but with the fallen, the living fact, the putrid humanity that is about me and in me.

I. So many people would make the inner life a mere question, as it were, one among a thousand. It is in reality a fact by itself; it is without parallel, it is a solemn loneliness; it is the soul face to face with its own immortality. In the text we seem to have gotten down upon the very rock of this whole question. We must have done so, because the text is an utterance of the Divine lips. The text is, ‘It is a people that do err in their hearts,’ in their very soul, in their very blood.

II. Many persons look upon society as if it were merely cutaneously affected, something the matter with the skin, with the surface of things, but the Great Healer, who hails from Gilead and brings balm with Him, says, Stand aside: this is not a question of the skin, but of the heart, of the very source of the blood stream; this is a case of blood-poisoning, life-poisoning.

Whatever the application is, it must be fundamental, internal, spiritual, complete. Where do you find that remedy? Only in one place. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.’

III. There again and again and evermore we are thrown back upon the Divine and the eternal. This is a great tribute to the majesty of man. He never is anywhere so eulogized, if the expression may be allowed, as in the Bible; never is he so humiliated, never is he so recognized and praised, as in the Bible. How great must he be who can be cured only by God! We start at our humiliations, and thence we proceed by the help of the Holy Ghost to see how besotted and befooled we are, and then we are led to the fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanliness.

Joseph Parker, City Temple Pulpit, vol. v. p. 222.

Reference. XCV. International Critical Commentary, vol. ii. p. 292.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Ver. 1. O come, let us sing unto the Lord ] It is thought by this beginning that this psalm was not penned by David for private use, but for public assemblies, to be sung by the congregation on the sabbath and such like times. It may very well be that they began their morning sacrifice with this psalm, as the Latin Church also afterwards did their matins, or morning service.

Let us make a joyful noise ] With a clear and loud voice, as of a trumpet; singing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

It will be noticed how Jehovah is worshipped as the Creator but the God of Israel; then a warning is given from the unbelief of their fathers in the wilderness. Their failure from of old will not debar them from His rest tomorrow, only unbelief today.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 95:1-5

1O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,

Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.

2Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,

Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.

3For the Lord is a great God

And a great King above all gods,

4In whose hand are the depths of the earth,

The peaks of the mountains are His also.

5The sea is His, for it was He who made it,

And His hands formed the dry land.

Psa 95:1-5 This strophe is a call (imperative and 4 cohortatives) to praise YHWH as King and Creator.

1. O come – BDB 229, KB 246, Qal imperative

2. let us sing for joy – BDB 943, KB 1247, Piel cohortative, cf. Psa 66:1; Psa 81:1

3. let us shout joyfully – BDB 929, KB 1206, Hiphil cohortative

4. let us come before His presence (i.e., temple) – BDB 869, KB 1068, Piel cohortative

5. let us shout joyfully – BDB 929, KB 1206, Hiphil imperfect used in a cohortative sense

These are calls to worship at the temple. The worship is due because YHWH is

1. the rock of our salvation – this and similar descriptions function as titles mostly in Psalms and Isaiah

a. God of my salvation – Psa 88:1; (cf. Psa 24:5; Psa 27:9)

b. my Savior and my God – Psa 42:5-6; Psa 42:11; Psa 43:5

c. my rock and my salvation – 2Sa 22:47; Psa 62:2; Psa 62:7; Psa 89:26; Psa 95:1

d. God our Savior – Psa 65:5; Psa 68:19; Psa 85:4; Psa 149:4 (see NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 561)

2. a great God (El), cf. Psa 48:1; Psa 96:4; Psa 135:5; Psa 145:3

3. a great King (cf. 1Sa 8:7)

4. above all gods (cf. Exo 18:11; Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9; Psa 135:5, see SPECIAL TOPIC: MONOTHEISM ; this is the use of Elohim, which should retain its plural form, cf. Exo 3:6; Exo 20:3, see SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY

Psa 95:1 the rock of our salvation The imagery of Israel’s God as a rock is recurrent (cf. Deu 32:4; Deu 32:15; Deu 32:18; Deu 32:30-31; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:3; 2Sa 22:32; 2Sa 22:47; 2Sa 23:3; Psa 18:2; Psa 18:31; Psa 18:46; Psa 28:1; Psa 61:2; Psa 61:7; Psa 78:35; Psa 89:26; Psa 92:15; Psa 94:22). It describes Him as strong, eternal, stable, and a place of safety and security!

Psa 95:4 the depths of the earth The word depths (, BDB 350, KB 571) appears only here. It is in a construct relationship with earth and parallel to the peaks of the mountains. This is obviously a physical creation poetic line (i.e., Psa 95:4-5), which denotes YHWH’s creation of all physical features of this planet. He is the King and Creator of physical reality (not other ANE deities or myths). Today the question would be, Is physical creation random or purposeful? Believers shout purposeful!

Just an added thought. In the previous paragraph I related Psa 95:4 to Psa 95:3 a. It is possible to relate it to Psa 95:3 b. If so, then the depths and the mountains would be places the ANE expected the gods to be. In those places it was not the gods (elohim) but YHWH, the Elohim of creation (Genesis 1-2) who reigns!

hand Notice that hand appears again in Psa 95:5. See SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND .

Psa 95:5 The sea. . .He who made it It is surprising that in Genesis 1 the only earthly element not spoken into existence was water (salt and fresh). God does separate the waters and controls their boundaries but He is not said to create them, so too, Psalms 104.

However, the theological assertion that He created all things including the seas is made in Neh 9:6; Psa 95:5; Psa 146:6; Jon 1:9.

Also notice that Psa 95:5 b asserts God formed (BDB 427, KB 468, Qal perfect) dry land. Gen 1:9-10 asserts it was by the spoken word. Remember this is ANE imagery. We should not create theology on poetic lines. I think Genesis 1-11 is both historical and literary. Please see the exegetical commentary on Genesis at www.freebiblecommentary.org. Western, modern people are far too literal and atomistic in their approach to Scripture (see online Seminar on Bible Interpretation).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

The Psalm has two distinct parts, see Structure, above; not two independent Psalms strung together. The latter part is the complement of the former.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 95:1-11

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, he made it: his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand ( Psa 95:1-7 ).

So the beautiful psalm encouraging us of singing unto the Lord, making a joyful noise of praise unto Him, coming into His presence with thanksgiving. It’s a beautiful psalm, really, of thanksgiving and making a joyful noise with praise for the greatness of God.

Now there is the warning. “For he is our God; we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Now to-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest ( Psa 95:7-11 ).

Here we are warned not to harden our heart against God or the work of God. The example that is given to us is the children of Israel in the wilderness. They had come to the border of the land that God had promised to them. They had come to Kadesh Barnea. They’re on the border of entering in to the land that God had promised to give to them. Now God had made some marvelous promises. He said, “I’ll drive out the enemy from before you. I will go before thee and drive out your enemies. And every place you put your foot, I’ve given it to you for your inheritance.” All these glorious promises.

Moses said, “Well, let’s send spies in that they might spy out the land, that we might know what kind of a land we’re coming into.” And so they picked from each tribe a man to go in and to spy out the territory. And when they returned, ten of the spies brought a discouraging report. “The cities are big, the walls are high, the people who dwell in them are like giants. We were like grasshoppers before them. They’ll eat us up.”

Joshua and Caleb brought back an encouraging report. They said, “Ah, sure they’re giants, but they’re bread for us. Let’s go in and eat them up. Their defenses have departed from them. Let’s go in right now and take it.” But the people were discouraged by the ten fellows who brought the evil report, and they began to murmur against the Lord and against Moses, and they said, “Let’s choose a leader that will take us back to Egypt. We were fools to follow Moses out here.”

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them because of their unbelief. Failing to believe God that He would bring them into this land of rest and promise that He had promised to give them. And because of their unbelief, they did not enter into the rest, but they wandered for forty years there in the wilderness and perished in the wilderness experience.

Now these things all happened, Paul tells us, to them as an example for us. The whole history of Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt and coming into the Land of Promise is known as typical history. That is, there are spiritual analogies to be drawn from it. And in the spiritual analogy, the land of Egypt represents the old life of bondage that we experienced in our life of sin. The Promised Land, coming into this Promised Land spiritually represents that glorious life in the Spirit that God wants you to know. That life of rest, resting in God.

Now between my conversion and entering into the fullness of the life in the Spirit, there is a wilderness that I must pass through. And there is a legitimate wilderness experience. As I am growing, as I am learning about God, as God is revealing His power to me, as I come to the bitter waters of Mara, and yet I see how God can turn the bitter waters sweet and I realize how God can take the bitter experiences of my life and bring sweetness out of them. As I’m learning to follow God with the pillar of fire and with the cloud, and I’m learning to just commit my life and trust God to lead me and guide me, coming into this new relationship with God, into this new life and experience.

But there is an illegitimate wilderness experience, too. God doesn’t expect you to spend your whole life in a spiritual yo-yo. God wants to bring you into a full, rich, abundant life of the Spirit. God wants to bring you into His rest. That glorious rest that God has for His people where you’re not always worried, not always upset, not always fretting, not filled with anxieties. But where you have that neat confidence and beautiful rest, “The Lord’s going to take care of it, you know. So the place is burning down, God’s got another place, you know.” And that beautiful neat rest that you just know it’s in the Lord’s hands. You know the Lord is taking care of it. He’s proven Himself to you. You’re confident that God’s got the whole thing under control. And hey, that is a glorious place to live.

Where you just learn that even in tragedies, apparent tragedies, God’s hand is working and God’s going to bring out His perfect purpose and will. And it’s going to be for the best. So the children of Israel perished in the wilderness, never entering into the Promised Land.

Now, in Hebrews this psalm is quoted, even as the scriptures say it, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the day of provocation.” Don’t harden your heart against God for in Hebrews it says, “Lest, a promise having been given to us of entering into his rest, we should fail to come in to it” ( Heb 4:1 ).

There are many people today who are failing still through unbelief to enter into that rest that God has for you. Your Christian experience is still like a wilderness experience. You haven’t really entered in to that full rest in the Lord. But God wants you to enter into that rest. So let us beware, lest the promise having been given to us of a place of rest that we would fail to enter into it. What a tragic thing when there is rest for us that we are so filled with turmoil and worry and anxiety when God has promised rest to you. So harden not your heart, believe and trust God.

“

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 95:1. O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

The worship of God should always be joyful, hence there is to be much singing in it. God is not like Baal, who can be worshipped with crying and lamentation, and the cutting of the flesh with knives. We who believe in him regard him not as the destroyer or the avenger, but as the rock of our salvation. You who have hidden in that rock can truly praise him.

Psa 95:2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving,

Let us not be afraid to stand in the immediate presence of God; on the other hand, let us not worship him with lightness and frivolity, but let us come before his presence with due reverence and solemnity; and when we come, let it be with thanksgiving. I need not remind you what innumerable reasons we have for thanksgiving. Let us render to God thanks according to what we have received from him.

Psa 95:2-3. And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

There are no other gods that are worthy to bear that name, but Jehovah is the great King above all that are called gods.

Psa 95:4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth:

The innermost caverns, the deepest mines of earth, and the far-down places in the depths of the ocean, these are all in Gods hand.

Psa 95:4. The strength of the hills is his also.

He is the God of the hills as well as the God of the valleys. Let us read this verse again. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. Are any of you there today? Then praise him out of the deep places. The strength of the hills is his also. Are you on the tops of the mountains today? Then give him the praise who placed you there lest through pride your feet should slip.

Psa 95:5. The sea is his, and he made it:

Men cannot parcel it out into estates, or cut it up into allotments, as they do with the solid earth; but the sea is his; there God reigns alone, and surveys the broad acres of the wild waste of waters as his own.

Psa 95:5. And his hands formed the dry land.

As though it were so much plastic clay, out of which he had molded this great globe, and fashioned the various countries in which the nations of mankind dwell.

Psa 95:6-7. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Blessed are we if we can say this in very truth, we are highly privileged to have this God to be our God, and to be ourselves his purchased inheritance, the objects of his daily care: the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

Psa 95:7-8. To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart,

It is a tender heart that hears Gods voice, and the heart that hears his voice is sure to be made tender. These two things act and re-act the one upon the other.

Psa 95:8-11. As in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

They had seen Gods work, but they did not know his eyes; they had not the sense to perceive the hand of God even in his miracles, or when they did perceive it, they oft rebelled against him. Oh, that we may not be like that unbelieving generation that grieved the Lord for forty years in the wilderness!

This exposition consisted of readings from 1 Kings 5, and Psalms 48, 95.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 95:1-3

A CALL TO WORSHIP AND A WARNING AGAINST UNBELIEF

Scholars usually group the six psalms from Psalms 95 through Psalms 100 as liturgical psalms, designed for use by the Israelites as they gathered for Sabbath day worship. “This group of psalms seems to have been composed for use in the services of the second temple. Despite such opinions, there is a genuine possibility that David is the author, as it is so assigned in the LXX, and besides that, the author of Hebrews in the New Testament quoted this psalm, stating that it was “in David.” This is alleged to mean merely that the psalm is “in the Psalter”; nevertheless, we accept the real possibility that David did indeed write it.

This writer claims no skill in evaluating such conclusions as those suggested by Yates (above), but they are included here as the convictions of dependable scholars.

INTRODUCTION TO THESE SIX PSALMS

McCaw stated that the six suggest the possibility of an annual “Enthronement Festival,” but refrained from accepting such an “Enthronement Festival” as any kind of certainty, declaring rather that, “Their abiding value is to enter into the riches of Old Testament teaching regarding God, the Creator and King. This writer cannot find sufficient supporting evidence of anything like “An Enthronement Festival” in the whole compass of Old Testament worship. If there was really any such thing, why is it never mentioned in the Old Testament?

Psalms 95 begins with the knowledge of God imparted exclusively to Israel, with the second portion of it providing a warning that Israel should not become unbelievers as did their ancestors.

In Psalms 96, the exclusiveness of Israel is replaced with a universal call for all nations and the whole creation to worship God. In this psalm, God appears, not exclusively as the covenant God of the Hebrews, but as the Creator of the whole world and the source of all truth and righteousness.

Psalms 97 stresses the knowledge of God as presiding over his whole Creation, and, “As the faithful One whose goodness and holiness are always being disclosed to all mankind through Zion.

Psalms 98 is a song of praise, extolling the fact of salvation being known to the ends of the earth.

Psalms 99 stresses the preeminence of Zion and honors great leaders such as Moses, Aaron, and Samuel.

In Psalms 100, “We have an appeal for universal adoration of the Lord, Israel’s position as his chosen people, and the enduring quality of the Lord’s mercy and kindness.

Psa 95:1-3

AN INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 95

“O come, let us sing unto Jehovah;

Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;

Let us make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For Jehovah is a great God,

And a great King above all gods.”

Although it is a fact that everyone is “always” in the presence of God in the ultimate sense, yet there is a special way in which men who are assembling for worship do indeed “come into God’s presence.” In this light, these verses are a beautiful and proper call to worship in churches all over the world even today.

Coming before God with praise and thanksgiving is the very essence of worship.

“A great God … a great King above all gods” (Psa 95:3). This is the overriding fact, the epic truth, that justifies the call to worship God. He is the One and Only Deity, the First Cause, The First and the Last, Jehovah, Rock, Refuge, High Tower, Salvation, Most High, the Beginning and the Ending, the Creator and Sustainer of Everything in the Universe. All of the pagan deities of antiquity are as a mere colony of insects in comparison with the true God of Heaven and Earth.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 95:1. Joyful noise is one of David’s expressions for singing lively praises to God for his great goodness to the children of men. Rock of our salvation means that the Lord is the foundation for all help that would bring salvation to mankind.

Psa 95:2. Man is always actually in the presence of the Lord. The thought is that they would make a formal action before the face of the Lord to express thanks.

Psa 95:3. The terms Lord and God are used in one sentence which recognizes the distinction between them. The first means the self-Existent Being and the second designates him as a Being worthy to rule with authority.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

We pause here to note a connection between a group of psalms, viz., Psa 93:1-5; Psa 94:1-23; Psa 95:1-11; Psa 96:1-13; Psa 97:1-12; Psa 98:1-9; Psa 99:1-9; Psa 100:1-5. These eight constitute the songs of the King, arranged in conformity with the needs of the people. The first (Psa 93:1-5) affirms His enthronement and government. The nest (Psa 94:1-23) expresses the hope of His people even in the midst of circumstances of trial. Then follow six, dealing with the fact of His Kingship in varied ways.

The present one declares His supremacy, and utters a note of warning against that which must inevitably hinder His people from realising the Rest of His reign. Calling first for praise to the King, the singer celebrates His supremacy. He is above all other authority, and is the God of all nature. He is, moreover, the God of His people; and therefore they should worship in submission and reverence before Him (vv. Psa 95:1-7 a). Then the warning note follows reminding them of the sins of their fathers which, as to their cause, consisted in failure of faith, which expressed itself in refusal to bow in submission to His will. That sin excluded them from rest, and the children are warned to profit by the ancient story. Such a King demands loyalty, and it must be more than that of a song; it must express itself in submission to His government.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Praise the Lord and Tempt Him not

Psa 95:1-11

This psalm is deeply inwoven into the life of the Church, because of the worshipful strain which pervades it, and also because of the illuminating manner in which it is introduced into the argument of Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-16. The works of God in creation are specially enumerated as incentives to praise. The sea, the hills, the deep places of the earth have often inspired the minstrel, but how much more the devout soul!

Let us remember, also, when we are tossed on the seas of life, or are called to descend into valleys of shadow, that faith will still dare to sing. But in the second stanza of the psalm, from Psa 95:6 onward, we are confronted with the sad story of Exo 17:1-16. There are Meribahs and Massahs in all lives, where we murmur against Gods dealings and lose our inward rest. There is a sabbatism of the heart when the will is yielded to Gods will, and the bean is cleansed from its wayward whims; when the very peace that fills the divine nature settles down on the heart. That experience is an entrance into Gods rest. It remains unexhausted for all the people of God. Let us not miss it through default of faith!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 95:6

This Psalm suggests a great many subjects of interest, but the point to which the text directs our attention is the import and bearing of its invitation to worship.

I. In the strictness of the word, adoration is the expression, by an outward, but much more by an inward, act, of man’s sincere conviction that his first duty to Almighty God is submission; and thus it is distinct from many other acts of the soul which are sometimes apt to be mistaken for it. (1) Contrast it, for example, with admiration. As admirers, we take it for granted that we are so far on a level with the object admired as to do Him justice; as admirers, we presuppose and exercise, although favourably, our rights as critics. In adoration we abandon all such pretensions as profane, as grotesque; we have no thought but that of God’s solitary and awful greatness, and of our own utter insignificance before Him. (2) Thanksgiving, praise, and prayer for blessings all three differ from adoration in this, that in each of them the soul is less prostrate, more able to bear the thought of self, than in pure and simple adoration. Pure adoration has no heart for self; it lies silent at the foot of the throne, conscious only of two things: the insignificance of self, the greatness of God.

II. Notice some of the leading benefits of worship, which explain the importance which is assigned to it by the Church of Christ. (1) It places us, both as individuals and as a body of men, in our true place before God our Creator. (2) Worship obliges us to think what we are ourselves. (3) Worship is a stimulus to action when, and only when, it is sincere. If it be true that to work is to pray, it is no less true that to pray is to work. Prayer, in fact, is work, since it makes a large demand upon the energies of the will. Contact with the highest reality cannot but brace us, and we find in all ages that the noblest resolves to act or to suffer have again and again been formed as though in obedience to what seems a sudden overpowering flash of light during worship.

H. P. Liddon, Family Churchman, Aug. 18th, 1886 (see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 104).

The goodness, the power, the wisdom, the providence, the presence, of God are abundantly shown and manifested to us in all the works of the Creator. There is nothing in all these works that looks, as it were, the work of chance; all bear marks of care, and design, and adaptation of means to the end; all seem to say to the hearing ear, “The hand that made us is Divine.” And it is to the worship of this Divine Head, it is to the acknowledgment of God as our Creator, that the text calls us. The contemplation of God’s works is calculated: (1) to fill our souls with noble and worthy thoughts about God; and (2) to make us humble in our estimate of ourselves, as forming a small part in these mighty works. These two things help to make accepted worship.

R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 176.

References: Psa 95:6.-F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 369; H. Hayman, Rugby Sermons, p. 119. Psa 95:7, Psa 95:8.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1551; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xx., p. 204. Psa 95:8.-G. Moberly, Sermons in Winchester College, 2nd series, p. 283. Psalm 95-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 216. Psa 96:6.-A. Watson, Sermons for Sundays, Festivals, and Fasts, 3rd series, p. 128. Psa 96:8.-E. W. Shalders, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 179.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 95

In Anticipation of His Coming

1. Singing unto Him? (Psa 95:1-5)

2. Let us worship and bow down (Psa 95:6-11)

It is a call to Israel in anticipation of the soon appearing of the expected Saviour-King. The next Psalm will show that He has come. How are they, His people, to welcome Him? With singing, with confession (this is the literal translation of thanksgiving in Psa 95:2), with worship and prostration. And there is the warning now not to harden their hearts, not be like their fathers who could not enter into His rest. His people must welcome Him as a willing, as an obedient people and such will be the humble remnant, having passed through the gracious discipline of the tribulation days. The end verses are quoted in Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-16.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Come: Psa 34:3, Psa 66:8, Psa 107:8, Psa 107:15, Psa 107:21, Psa 117:1, Psa 118:1, Psa 136:1-3, Psa 148:11-13, Psa 150:6

sing: Psa 47:6, Psa 47:7, Psa 66:1, Psa 66:2, Psa 81:1, Psa 96:1, Psa 96:2, Psa 101:1, Exo 15:1, Exo 15:21, 1Ch 16:9, Eph 5:19, Col 3:16, Rev 5:9, Rev 14:3, Rev 15:3

let us make: Psa 66:1, Psa 98:4-8, Psa 100:1, Ezr 3:11-13, Isa 12:4-6, Jer 33:11, Mat 21:9, Rev 19:6

the rock: Psa 89:26, Deu 32:15, 2Sa 22:47, 1Co 10:4

Reciprocal: 1Ki 8:66 – joyful 1Ch 15:16 – lifting up 1Ch 15:25 – with joy 2Ch 5:13 – as one 2Ch 20:19 – a loud 2Ch 29:30 – they sang Neh 12:42 – sang loud Psa 2:11 – rejoice Psa 21:1 – joy Psa 27:6 – I will Psa 62:7 – rock Psa 68:3 – rejoice Psa 81:2 – General Psa 95:6 – O come Psa 140:7 – the strength Psa 144:1 – my strength Psa 147:7 – General Isa 25:9 – we will Isa 30:29 – with a pipe Joe 2:23 – rejoice Zep 3:14 – shout Luk 6:48 – rock 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly Rev 19:7 – be glad

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

WORSHIP AND REST

O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us worship and fall down: and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

Psa 95:1; Psa 95:6 (Prayer Book Version)

Such is the invitation that Sunday by Sunday and day by day we give one another. We are about to do something joyous, gladsome, and inspiriting, and we wish others to come along with us and share our happiness. We are to fling ourselves at the feet of One Whose works proclaim His majesty.

I. Are we to acquiesce in a resting-place no larger than our counting-house or our office?Are we never to stretch ourselves beyond the narrow confines of domestic joys and business interests? Is it that we have lost what Bishop Westcott called the ennobling faculty of wonder, and with it the power of rising above ourselves and our surroundings? Ah! that is possible. The alarming increase in suicide and lunacy, in spite of the much higher standard of personal comfort, is a warning that we are losing something. And what is that? It is worship. Yes, again we are learning that the soul is made for God, and can find its rest only in Him, that no rest we can find for ourselves is comparable to the rest in worship. We are not indeed accustomed to put the two things together, we do not naturally associate rest with days of worship or places of worship. Worship as an obligation, a duty, we understand, but worship as a refreshment, a recreation, is quite novel. A day of worship we should suppose to be a dull and heavy day. And yet some can remember one day when the word spelt something like rest.

II. And afterwards, though they may not have expressed it, the same feeling was aroused by some sight of nature.A sunset, a stretch of mountain peaks, a quiet English pastoral scene, nay, even a flower, as it was with Linnus, have excited feelings too deep for tears. Or it has been the procession of an aged sovereign, dear to the hearts of the people, or of a weather-beaten soldier who has done his country great service, or some statesman who has given his nation peace. And as they stood silent, listening to the gathering roar of the people, they have realised for themselves those old Bible words, They worshipped the Lord and the King.

III. Alas! alas! My people are gone into captivity to sense for lack of knowledge.If only they knew! But why do they not know? Because the Bookthe real Wonder-Bookis often so imperfectly taught. The very wonder it is meant to excite is sometimes killed in the teaching of it. Instead of the children finding that they are insensibly drawn away from earth to a spiritual world of unseen beings, to which they are led by natural instincts, they never leave the class-room, but are confined to a school of ethics, where angels never minister, God never interferes, and miracles never happen. The natural faculty of wonder so strong in a child is checked instead of developed, and we have young people growing up who never wonder.

Yes, we begin our endeavour with those who pass our churches a little too late. Pleasant Sunday Afternoons, bright musical services, a carefully-arranged ritual, may attract and help those who can still admire and wonder, and so worship, but they cannot, except by Divine grace, touch those to whom life is but a paddock, with very insufficient pasture and very unreasonable competition. Sunday rest certainly depends on Sunday worship, but Sunday worship depends on that faculty of wonder which is kept alive by a living and growing Bible knowledge. It is that which we must strive for if Sunday is to be in the future what it has been in the past.

Canon Walpole.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

The two fold testimony of judgment and salvation.

The ninety-fifth psalm gives us now the testimony, not yet actually of the Lord coming, but of the need of the obedience to Him, if Israel is to have the security of His care. While at the same time He is celebrated as the God of the whole earth, to whom everything is subject. It is thus, practically, (though neither so wide in its address, nor so definite in its announcement,) the message of the “everlasting gospel” in Rev 14:1-20 : “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” That the hour of His judgment is come is not in fact declared: but the next psalm declares it, and for this the present one prepares the way. Israel, however, is alone in view here: the invitation and the warning are distinctly addressed to them.

1. The psalm opens with the exhortation to sing to Jehovah as the Rock of their salvation; to answer with “confession,” of what He is to them, -the word for “thanksgiving” being literally “confession.” For Jehovah their God is a great God, and a great King over all that man would exalt to deity. The earth in its depths and heights is then claimed as His and the sea and the dry land. which He has formed. In these last two cases the idea of control seems prominent, and that as necessarily inferred in the fact of His making them.

2. Then they are exhorted again to do Him homage, and His loving relationship to them as their Shepherd is put before them as what may well incite them to this. But there is added as the necessary condition to the continuance of this, “today, if ye will hear His voice! “* Apart from such obedient hearing there could be no walking together, of those not agreed. Grace only fulfills -not sets aside -such conditions.

{* The Masoretic division of the verses is an apparent difficulty but Delitzsch points out that the “if ye will hear His voice” cannot be really the condition of what follows in the next verse, but is the expression of desire for them. It may then be really the condition of what precedes, -that is, of the continuance of it. And this seems to suit well with the character of the psalm as a whole. The use of the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews is not against this, the quotation being from the Septuagint, and the division of the subject no way affecting the purpose of the apostle.}

A sad page of their history is now brought before them, the time of their “strife” with God at Meribah, and “tempting” Him at Massah. And this was but a sample of forty years in which He was grieved by a generation finally cut off in the wilderness for unbelief. They are exhorted not to harden their hearts as did their fathers, when they tempted and proved God, and saw His work, -found Him alike faithful in His promises and in His threatenings. And now the rest of God is so near at hand, and in proportion to the blessedness of all implied in it, is the awful irremediable ruin of being cut off from it.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 95:1-3. O come, let us sing, unto the Lord, &c. Thus the pious Jews, in ancient times, exhorted and excited each other to employ their voices in honour of Jehovah, and to celebrate the rock of their salvation And Christians are now called upon to stir up each other to the same blessed work, in the same or similar language. For the Lord is a great God And therefore is greatly to be praised; and a great King A great sovereign, even the universal Lord of all nations and worlds; above all gods Above all that are accounted or called gods, whether angels, earthly potentates, or the false gods of the heathen.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Jews with one consent refer this psalm to the days of the Messiah. St. Paul had therefore the fullest authority for addressing it to the Hebrews. It was composed by David, when God had put all adjacent nations under his power.

Psa 95:7. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. The Chaldee and the Vulgate read, We are the people of his hand, and the sheep of his pasture. He made us a people, and delivered us by his right hand, and he feeds us as sheep are fed in the pastures.

Psa 95:10. They have not known my ways; that is, they would not know them. They shut their eyes against the light, and stopped their ears against the joyful sound.

Psa 95:11. My rest. Heaven, of which the sabbath and the land of Canaan were but figures. It also applies to the repose, the confidence and joy, which the believer has in God. Heb 4:3.

REFLECTIONS.

Here we enter upon evangelical ground. David, like a seraph, animated with a burning coal, calls loudly upon his country to worship the Lord. To this end, he illustrates the divine sovereignty over heaven and earth, and then repeats his call to devotion.

More effectually to promote reformation, he draws powerful arguments of obedience from the consequence of the disobedience of their fathers at Meribah, and at Massah. Here, while personating the Messiah, with love glowing in his heart, Psa 94:19, the glory of the gospel broke in upon his soul, though he knew not how to decipher all that the prophetic spirit poured into his heart. When he said, to day, meaning his own age, the gospel day was also intended. Heb 3:7; Heb 4:7-10. Christ the sun of righteousness came to enlighten the gentile world, and to shed abroad the day of truth on the benighted nations.

By the voice, David meant that his people should hearken to the law and the covenant which were delivered by the voice from Sinai, and from the pillar of cloud. But the gospel was also meant, which opens by a voice crying in the wilderness. The dead heard the voice of the Son of God; and the Laodicean, at whose heart he knocks, is still called to hearken.

We have next the oath. As God confirmed the blessings of the covenant to Abraham and to Israel with an oath, Luk 1:73; so now he inflicted the curse with equal firmness. After certain periods of revolt and stubborn wickedness, a mans day of grace is past, and the Spirit of God forsakes him. So it was with the Jews before the Babylonian captivity, Ezekiel 14.; and so it was when Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Luk 19:39; Luk 19:41. Yet he graciously spared that stiffnecked people about forty years, the very time he spared their fathers in the desert, before he sent the Romans to bring upon them destruction to the uttermost. Oh what a sermon to the christian church! How strikingly does St. Paul enforce it to the Hebrews against apostasy. One seems to see ten thousand hearers of the gospel, hearers who have sinned against all its grace, and all its terrors, about to be included in this dreadful sentence. They have sinned against mercies, against judgments, and against longsuffering grace. What then can God do more to a barren vineyard? What remains then but a suspended punishment? I tremble lest the comfort, the quiet, the assurance they feel in their sins, should indicate that there is no more remedy; and that God, long provoked to anger, should have already sworn that they shall not enter his heavenly rest.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

XCV. A Hymn of Praise.The greatness of God in nature. A warning from the history of Israel in the wilderness. There is no cogent reason for dividing the Ps. into two. For Massah and Meribah. see Exo 17:1 ff. and Num 20:1 ff.

Psa 95:4. heights: (not strength, mg.). The poet contrasts the deep places of the earth with the mountain peaks.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 95

The nation of Israel called upon to turn to Jehovah with thanksgiving, in view of the coming of Christ to earth to bring the nation into rest.

(vv. 1-2) The godly remnant appeal to the nation to come before the Lord – who is the rock of their salvation – with songs of praise.

(vv. 3-5) The ground of this appeal is the glory of Jehovah. Jehovah is a great God, and a great King above all that exercise rule. The deep places of the earth are in His hand, and the heights of the hills are His. There is no depth beyond His reach, and no height above His rule. He made the sea, and formed the dry land. The One who comes to rule is above all; Possessor of all the earth, and the Maker of all things.

(vv. 6-7) The godly delight to confess that the One who made the sea, and the dry land is our Maker, and our God. Moreover they say, We are His – We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. The people of God are prone to look to second causes for the provision of their needs, and for protection from their enemies. They are in danger of forgetting that God has pasture to meet every need, and a hand to protect from every foe.

Once again grace gives the nation opportunity to submit to God and own that Jehovah is the rock of their salvation. Today is a day of grace and salvation.

(vv. 8-11) Grace rejected must end in judgment. Hence Israel is warned not to act as their fathers who hardened their hearts in the wilderness. Though they saw God’s work for them, they erred in their hearts, and would have none of God’s ways. In result they could not enter into God’s rest.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a {a} joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

(a) He shows that God’s service stands not in dead ceremonies, but chiefly in the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 95

The psalmist extolled Yahweh as the great King above all gods and urged the Israelites to worship Him alone rather than disbelieving Him. The Septuagint translators credited David with writing this psalm, which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews followed (Heb 4:7). This is another "enthronement" psalm (cf. Psalms 47, 93, 96-99).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. Exhortation to praise the sovereign Lord 95:1-7a

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

These introductory verses call on the congregation to glorify the Lord in song for His salvation. The phrase "rock of our salvation" combines the ideas of security and deliverance. God is One who gives security by providing deliverance from danger.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 95:1-11

THIS psalm is obviously divided into two parts, but there is no reason for seeing in these two originally unconnected fragments. Rather does each part derive force from the other; and nothing is more natural than that, after the congregation has spoken its joyful summons to itself to worship, Jehovah should speak warning words as to the requisite heart preparation, without which worship is vain. The supposed fragments are fragmentary indeed, if considered apart. Surely a singer has the liberty of being abrupt and of suddenly changing his tone. Surely he may as well be credited with discerning the harmony of the change of key as some later compiler. There could be no more impressive way of teaching the conditions of acceptable worship than to set side by side a glad call to praise and a solemn warning against repeating the rebellions of the wilderness. These would be still more appropriate if this were a post-exilic hymn; for the second return from captivity would be felt to be the analogue of the first, and the dark story of former hard-heartedness would fit very close to present circumstances.

The invocation to praise in Psa 95:1-2, gives a striking picture of the joyful tumult of the Temple worship. Shrill cries of gladness, loud shouts of praise, songs with musical accompaniments, rang simultaneously through the courts, and to Western ears would have sounded as din rather than as music, and as more exuberant than reverent. The spirit expressed is, alas! almost as strange to many moderns as the manner of its expression. That swelling joy which throbs in the summons, that consciousness that jubilation is a conspicuous element in worship, that effort to rise to a height of joyful emotion, are very foreign to much of our worship. And their absence, or presence only in minute amount, flattens much devotion, and robs the Church of one of its chief treasures. No doubt; there must often be sad strains blended with praise. But it is a part of Christian duty, and certainly of Christian wisdom, to try to catch that tone of joy in worship which rings in this psalm.

The three following verses (Psa 95:3-5) give Jehovahs creative and sustaining power, and His consequent ownership of this fair world, as the reasons for worship. He is King by right of creation. Surely it is forcing unnatural meanings on words to maintain that the psalmist believed in the real existence of the “gods” whom he disparagingly contrasts with Jehovah. The fact that these were worshipped sufficiently warrants the comparison. To treat it as in any degree inconsistent with Monotheism is unnecessary, and would scarcely have occurred to a reader but for the exigencies of a theory. The repeated reference to the “hand” of Jehovah is striking. In it are held the deeps: it is a plastic hand. “forming” the land, as a potter fashioning his clay: it is a shepherds hand. protecting and feeding his flock (Psa 95:7). The same power created and sustains the physical universe, and guides and guards Israel. The psalmist has no time for details; he can only single out extremes, and leave us to infer that what is true of these is true of all that is enclosed between them. The depths and the heights are Jehovahs. The word rendered “peaks” is doubtful. Etymologically it should mean “fatigue,” but it is not found in that sense in any of the places where it occurs. The parallelism requires the meaning of heights to contrast with depths, and this rendering is found in the LXX, and is adopted by most moderns. The word is then taken to come from a root meaning “to be high.” Some of those who adopt the translation summits attempt to get that meaning out of the root meaning fatigue, by supposing that the labour of getting to the top of the mountain is alluded to in the name. Thus Kay renders “the mountains toilsome heights,” and so also Hengstenberg. But it is simpler to trace the word to the other root, to be high. The ownerless sea is owned by Him; He made both its watery waste and the solid earth.

But that all-creating Hand has put forth more wondrous energies than those of which heights and depths, sea and land, witness. Therefore, the summons is again addressed to Israel to bow before “Jehovah our Maker.”

The creation of a people to serve Him is the work of His grace, and is a nobler effect of His power than material things. It is remarkable that the call to glad praise should be associated with thoughts of His greatness as shown in creation, while lowly reverence is enforced by remembrance of His special relation to Israel. We should have expected the converse. The revelation of Gods love, in His work of creating a people for Himself, is most fittingly adored by spirits prostrate before Him. Another instance of apparent transposition of thoughts occurs in Psa 95:7 b, where we might have expected “people of His hand and sheep of His pasture.” Hupfeld proposes to correct accordingly, and Cheyne follows him. But the correction buys prosaic accuracy at the cost of losing the forcible incorrectness which blends figure and fact. and by keeping sight of both enhances each. “The sheep of His hand” suggests not merely the creative but the sustaining and protecting power of God. It is hallowed forever by our Lords words, which may be an echo of it: “No man is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand.”

The sudden turn from jubilant praise and recognition of Israels prerogative as its occasion to grave warning is made more impressive by its occurring in the middle of a verse. Gods voice breaks in upon the joyful acclamations with solemn effect. The shouts of the adoring multitude die on the poets trembling ear, as that deeper Voice is heard. We cannot persuade ourselves that this magnificent transition, so weighty with instruction, so fine in poetic effect, is due to the after thought of a compiler. Such a one would surely have stitched his fragments more neatly together than to make the seam run through the centre of a verse-an irregularity which would seem small to a singer in the heat of his inspiration. Psa 95:7 c may be either a wish or the protasis to the apodosis in Psa 95:8. “If ye would but listen to His voice!” is an exclamation, made more forcible by the omission of what would happen then. But it is not necessary to regard the clause as optative. The conditional meaning, which connects it with what follows, is probably preferable, and is not set aside by the expression “His voice” instead of “My voice”; for “similar change of persons is very common in utterances of Jehovah, especially in the Prophets” (Hupfeld). “Today” stands first with strong emphasis, to enforce the critical character of the present moment. It may be the last opportunity. At all events, it is an opportunity, and therefore to be grasped and used. A doleful history of unthankfulness lay behind; but still the Divine voice sounds, and still the fleeting moments offer space for softening of heart and docile hearkening. The madness of delay when time is hurrying on, and the long-suffering patience of God, are wonderfully proclaimed in that one word, which the Epistle to the Hebrews lays hold of, with so deep insight, as all-important.

The warning points Israel back to ancestral sins, the tempting of God in the second year of the Exodus, by the demand for water. {Exo 17:1-7} The scene of that murmuring received both names, Massah (temptation) and Meribah (strife). It is difficult to decide the exact force of Psa 95:9 b. “Saw My work” is most naturally taken as referring to the Divine acts of deliverance and protection seen by Israel in the desert, which aggravated the guilt of their faithlessness. But the word rendered “and” will, in that case, have to be taken as meaning “although”-a sense which cannot be established. It seems better, therefore, to take “work” in the unusual meaning of acts of judgment-His “strange work.” Israels tempting of God was the more indicative of hardheartedness that it was persisted in, in spite of chastisements. Possibly both thoughts are to be combined, and the whole varied stream of blessings and punishments is referred to in the wide expression. Both forms of Gods work should have touched these hard hearts. It mattered not whether He blessed or punished. They were impervious to both. The awful issue of this obstinate rebellion is set forth in terrible words. The sensation of physical loathing followed by sickness is daringly ascribed to God. We cannot but remember what John heard in Patmos from the lips into which grace was poured: “I will spue thee out of My mouth.”

But before He cast Israel out, He pled with them, as Psa 95:10 b goes on to tell: “He said, A people going astray in heart are they.” He said so, by many a prophet and many a judgment, in order that they might come back to the true path. The desert wanderings were but a symbol, as they were a consequence, of their wanderings in heart. They did not know His ways; therefore they chose their own. They strayed in heart; therefore they had an ever-increasing ignorance of the right road. For the averted heart and the blind understanding produce each other.

The issue of the long-protracted departure from the path which God had marked was, as it ever is, condemnation to continue in the pathless wilderness, and exclusion from the land of rest which God had promised them, and in which He Himself had said that He would make His resting place in their midst. But what befell Israel in outward fact was symbolical of universal spiritual truth. The hearts that love devious ways can never be restful. The path which leads to calm is traced by God, and only those who tread it with softened hearts, earnestly listening to His voice, will find repose even on the road, and come at last to the land of peace. For others, they have chosen the desert, and in it they will wander wearily, “forever roaming with a hungry heart.”

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is laying hold of the very kernel of the psalm, when he adduces the fact that, so many centuries after Moses, the warning was still addressed to Israel, and the possibility of entering the Rest of God, and the danger of missing it, still urged, as showing that the Rest of God remained to be won by later generations, and proclaiming the eternal truth that “we which have believed do enter into rest.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary