Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 95:11
Unto whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
11. Unto whom &c.] Or, Wherefore I sware. See Num 14:21 ff.
my rest ] The Promised Land. Cp. Deu 12:9.
Psa 95:7 c11 are quoted in Heb 3:7-11, and applied in detail as a warning to Christians who were in danger of unbelief, lest they too should fail to reach the rest promised to them. The quotation follows the LXX with some slight variations. In Heb 4:7, Psa 95:7 c, Psa 95:8 a are introduced by the words “saying in David,” i.e. ‘in the person of David,’ not ‘in the book of David.’ The author may have followed the LXX title, or, according to the common mode of speaking, regarded David as the author of the whole Psalter.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Unto whom I sware in my wrath – See the notes at Heb 3:11.
That they should not enter into my rest – Margin, as in Hebrew, If they enter into my rest. The rest here referred to was the land of Canaan. They were not permitted to enter there as a place of rest after their long and weary wanderings, but died in the wilderness. The meaning is not that none of them were saved (for we must hope that very many of them were brought to the heavenly Canaan), but that they did not come to the promised land. Unbelief shut them out; and this fact is properly made use of here, and in Heb. 3, as furnishing a solemn warning to all not to be unbelieving and rebellious, since the consequence of unbelief and rebellion must be to exclude us from the kingdom of heaven, the true place of rest.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 95:11
Unto whom I sware in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest.
Obstinate sinners doomed to eternal perdition
I. The ways by which God usually prepares and ripens a sinner for certain destruction.
1. By withholding the virtue and power of His ordinances; and when God seals up the influences of these conduits, no wonder if the soul withers and dies with drought. For, alas! what is a conduit by which nothing is conveyed! That which God uses as an instrument to save, meeting with the corruption of some obdurate hearts, is made a means to ruin: as it softens some, so it hardens others. As the same rain that, falling upon a tree or plant, makes it grow and flourish: falling upon wood cut down and dried, makes it rot and decay. He whom the very means of salvation did not save must needs perish.
2. By restraining the convincing power of His providences.
(1) Common calamities.
(2) Particular judgments.
(3) Unexpected deliverances.
3. By delivering up the sinner to a stupidity or searedness of conscience. This hardness growing upon the conscience, is like a film growing upon the eyes: it blinds them. And that which makes the conscience blind to discern its duty makes it bold to venture upon sin.
II. What sort of obstinate sinners those are that God deals with in this manner.
1. Such as sin against clear and notable warnings from God. God sometimes hedges in a sinners way, so that it is really very difficult for him to proceed, and not only more safe, but also more easy for him to return. How many men have gone to church with their hearts fully engaged in a resolution to pursue some secret, beloved sin; and there have been strongly arrested with the convincing force of some word, so seasonably and, as it were, purposely directed against that sin, that they have thought the preacher to have looked into their very hearts, and to have been as privy to their most inward thoughts and designs as their own consciences! Now, this is a manifest admonition and caution, cast in by God Himself; which, to baulk or break through, greatly enhances the sinners guilt. Sometimes God warns a sinner from his course, by making strong impressions upon his mind of its unlawfulness and contrariety to the Divine will: which impressions are so strong and cogent that they overbear all the shifts and carnal reasonings that the subtlety of a wicked heart can make in the behalf of it. Again, sometimes God meets the sinner with some heavy threatening sickness, lays him upon the bed of pain and languishing, and scares him with the fears of an approaching death, and the weight of an endless confusion.
2. The other sort of sinners are such as sin against special renewed vows and promises of obedience made to God. The violation of these is more than ordinary sinful; not only from the necessity of the matter to which they oblige, but also from the occasion upon which they were made. For men seldom make such vows but upon extraordinary cases; as upon the receipt of some great endearing mercy, or some notable deliverance; which causes them, by way of gratitude, to bind themselves to God in closer and stricter bonds of obedience. Whereupon, such as make a custom of affronting God, by a frequent and familiar breach of these, are justly very odious to Him, and, from odious, quickly become unsupportable.
III. Two questions that may arise from the foregoing particulars.
1. Whether the purpose of God passed upon an obstinate sinner (here expressed to us by Gods swearing against him) be absolutely irrevocable. This is most certain; that both these propositions may, and are, and must be unalterably true; namely, That whosoever repents, and leaves his sins, shall be saved; and yet that he whosoever God has sworn shall never enter into His rest can never enter into it; and all pretences to the contrary are but harangue and declamation, and fit to move none but such as understand not the strength of arguments or the force of propositions.
2. Whether a man may know such a purpose to have passed upon him antecedently to its execution. Now, if any will pretend to gather the knowledge of such a purpose of God against him, it must be from some effects of it. Such, as I show, were Gods withdrawing His grace, and that secret convincing power that operates in His word and in His providences; but this cannot immediately be known by any man; since it is (as we here suppose it to be) altogether secret. Or, further, he must gather this knowledge from some qualifications, or signs, accompanying those persons that are in such a wretched condition. Such, as I show, were sinning against particular warnings and admonitions from God; as also against frequently renewed vows and promises of amendment and obedience. But these I mentioned not as certain, infallible marks of such a forlorn estate, but only as shrewd signs of it. For besides that the Scripture declares no man absolutely and finally lost, as soon as these qualifications are found upon him, unless they continue so till his death; so it is further manifest that the grace of God is so strange and various in its working upon the heart of men that it sometimes fastens upon and converts old overgrown sinners, such as, to the eye of reason, were going apace to hell, and almost at their journeys end. From all which it follows, that no man, in this life, can pass any certain judgment concerning the will of God in reference to his own final estate; but ought, with fear and trembling, to attend Gods precept and revealed will; and so gathering the best evidence he can of his condition from his obedience, with all humility to expect the issue of Gods great counsels and intentions.
IV. Uses.
1. To exhort and persuade all such as know how to value the great things that concern their peace, to beware of sinning under sin-aggravating circumstances.
2. To convince us of the great and fearful danger of a daring continuance in a course of sin. Who knows what a day may bring forth, and what may be the danger of one hours delay? This is most sure, that every particular repeated act of sin sets us one advance nearer to hell. And while we are sinning obstinately, and going on audaciously in a rebellious course, how can we tell but God may swear in His wrath against us and register our names in the black rolls of damnation? (R. South, D. D.)
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Psa 96:1-13
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Being full of just wrath against them, I passed an irreversible sentence, and confirmed it by an oath; of which we read Num 14.
Into my rest; into the Promised Land, which is called the rest, Deu 12:9. See also 1Ch 23:25; Psa 132:14. And this history the psalmist propounds to the men of his age, not as a matter of mere speculation, but as an instruction for all after-ages, and particularly for those Israelites who should live in the times of the Messias, that they should take heed of falling after the same example of unbelief, as the apostle infers from this place, Heb 4:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8-11. warning against neglect;and this is sustained by citing the melancholy fate of theirrebellious ancestors, whose provoking insolence is described byquoting the language of God’s complaint (Nu14:11) of their conduct at Meribah and Massah,names given (Ex 17:7) tocommemorate their strife and contention with Him (Psa 78:18;Psa 78:41).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Unto whom I sware in my wrath,…. Being angry with them, he sware for the confirmation of what he said; the form of the oath was, “as truly as I live”; he sware by himself, for he could swear by no greater; see Nu 14:21
that they should not enter into my rest; the land of Canaan, or Israel, as Kimchi; which the Lord provided, promised, and gave to the Israelites, as their rest; the land of Israel and Jerusalem, as Jarchi; or the house of the sanctuary, the temple, as the Targum; which Jehovah chose for his rest, and took it up in it, and where he promised the Messiah, the Prince of peace, who gives to his people spiritual and eternal rest. Canaan was typical of the rest which remains for the people of God; the use that believing Jews, and all Christians under the Gospel dispensation, are to make of this, see in Heb 3:18.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11. Wherefore I have sworn in my wrath I see no objection to the relative אשר, asher, being understood in its proper sense and reading — To whom I have sworn. The Greek version, taking it for a mark of similitude, reads, As I have sworn But I think that it may be properly considered as expressing an inference or conclusion; not as if they were then at last deprived of the promised inheritance when they tempted God, but the Psalmist, having spoken, in the name of God, of that obstinacy which they displayed, takes occasion to draw the inference that there was good reason for their being prohibited, with an oath, from entering the land. Proportionally as they multiplied their provocations, it became the more evident that, being incorrigible, they had been justly cut off from God’s rest. (69) The meaning would be more clear by reading in the pluperfect tense — I had sworn; for God had already shut them out from the promised inheritance, having foreseen their misconduct; before he thus strove with them. I have elsewhere adverted to the explanation which is to be given of the elliptical form in which the oath runs. (70) The land of Canaan is called God’s rest in reference to the promise. Abraham and his posterity had been wanderers in it until the full time came for entering upon the possession of it. Egypt had been a temporary asylum, and, as it were, a place of exile. In preparing to plant the Jews, agreeably to his promise, in their rightful patrimony of Canaan, God might very properly call it his rest. The word must be taken, however, in the active sense; this being the great benefit which God bestowed, that the Jews were to dwell there, as in their native soil, and in a quiet habitation. We might stop a moment here to compare what the Apostle states in the third and fourth chapters of his Epistle to the Hebrews, with the passage now before us. That the Apostle follows the Greek version, need occasion no surprise. (71) Neither is he to be considered as undertaking professedly to treat this passage. He only insists upon the adverb To-day, and upon the word Rest And first, he states that the expression to-day, is not to be confined to the time when the Law was given, but properly applies to the Gospel, when God began to speak more openly. The fuller and more perfect declaration of doctrine demanded the greater share of attention. God has not ceased to speak: he has revealed his Son, and is daily inviting us to come unto him; and, undoubtedly, it is our incumbent duty, under such an opportunity, to obey his voice. The Apostle next reasons from the rest, to an extent which we are not to suppose that the words of the Psalmist themselves warrant. (72) He takes it up as a first position, that since there was an implied promise in the punishment here denounced, there must have been some better rest promised to the people of God than the land of Canaan. For, when the Jews had entered the land, God held out to his people the prospect of another rest, which is defined by the Apostle to consist in that renouncing of ourselves, whereby we rest from our own works while God worketh in us. From this, he takes occasion to compare the old Sabbath, or rest, under the Law, which was figurative, with the newness of spiritual life. (73) When his said that he swore in his wrath, this intimates that he was in a manner freed to inflict this punishment, that the provocation was of no common or slight kind, but that their awful obstinacy inflamed his anger, and drew from him this oath.
(69) “ Satis superque innotuit, quia corrigi nullo modo poterant, non temere fuisse abdicatos a requie Dei.” — Lat.
(70) See Commentary, Psa 27:13, and 89:35. “The Hebrews used אם, in the latter clause of an oath, which ran thus: God do so to me, if ( אם) I do thus, etc. See the full form in 1Sa 3:17; 2Sa 3:35; 2Kg 6:31. The former part of this oath was sometimes omitted, and אם had then the force of a strong negative; see 2Sa 11:11; 1Sa 14:45, alibi; vide Ges. Heb. Lex. under אם, number 6. So in Psa 95:11, אם יבאון, contains a strong negative, which the LXX., and Paul after them, (Heb 3:11,) have rendered εἰ εἰσελεύσονται, they shall not enter. ” — Stuart on Heb 3:11. “The expression,” says Dr Owen, “is imperfect, and relates to the oath of God, wherein he sware by himself. As if he had said, ‘Let me not live, or not be God, if they enter,’ which is the greatest and highest asseveration that they should not enter. And the concealment of the engagement is not, as some suppose, from a παθος, causing an abruptness of speech, but from the reverence of the person spoken of. The expression is perfectly and absolutely negative. So Mar 8:12, with Mat 16:4; 1Sa 14:44; 1Kg 20:10.” — Commentary on Heb 3:11.
(71) See volume 1, page 103, note.
(72) “ Subtilius disputat quam ferant Prophetae verba.” — Lat.
(73) “ Vetus et legale Sabbathum quod umbratile tantum erat, cum spirituali vitae novitate.” — Lat.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) I sware.Num. 14:21-27.
Rest.This is, of course, the Promised Land, as the context unmistakably shows. The freedom taken with the passage by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in order to make the psalm point us to a future rest, was such as Jewish doctors ordinarily used, and of which other instances occur in the New Testamentnotably St. Pauls argument in Gal. 3:16.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. I sware in my wrath A most solemn transaction. The form of the oath is given Num 14:21; Num 14:28-34.
My rest That is, the land of Canaan, which was the “rest” which God had prepared for his people from the hardships of their bondage life in Egypt, the nomad life of their forefathers, (see Heb 11:9; Heb 11:14,) and their pilgrim life in the desert. The apostle applies it spiritually to the “rest” of faith attained in Christ, (Heb 4:3; Heb 4:8-10,) which also is forfeited by unbelief.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 95:11. Unto whom I sware Wherefore I sware, &c. It is well known, that the land of Canaan was a type of heaven, where, after all his toils, the good and faithful servant is to enter into the joy of his Lord; and as those Israelites in the wilderness were not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan, because of their unbelief, their distrust in God’s providence, and consequent disobedience; St. Paul hence takes occasion to exhort the Jews, Heb 2:1-4 to accept readily the terms offered to them by the gospel: and in the subsequent chapter he shews that the words of the present Psalm are applicable to the state of Christianity; and intimates to them, that if they persisted in an obstinate refusal of those gracious offers, they likewise would fall through unbelief.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The Psalmist opens with a warm exhortation to all around him, to unite in the delightful work of praise to the great God and Saviour.
1. He directs how they should draw near to him with a joyful noise, not only making melody in their hearts, but speaking forth his praise in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, with thanksgiving for all his boundless mercies; with humble reverence and lowly adoration kneeling before him; the posture of their body expressing the deep abasement of their souls in his presence.
2. He points out abundant matter for their praises.
(1.) He is the rock of our salvation, hath obtained it for his faithful people; and all who are perseveringly built upon him, are secure from all wrath, and safe from all enemies.
(2.) He is a great God, partaking of all the essential attributes of Deity; eternal, omnipotent, omniscient.
(3.) His dominion is universal: He is a great king above all gods; by him all earthly princes reign, to him all magistrates are accountable, and before him the fictitious gods of the heathen perish: he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. His dominion is wide, extending from pole to pole; both land and sea acknowledge his sovereignty: the deepest recesses of the earth he searches, and the highest mountains are fixed by his power, and upheld by his providence. Note; If all the world be thus in the hands of our Jesus, how can his faithful people want any manner of thing that is good?
(4.) He is the maker of all, and therefore justly the owner; by him and in him we live and move and have our being: he bade the dry land appear, and bound up the great deep in swaddling-bands. These are thy works, O God; and justly therefore does he deserve to be praised; of whom are all things, and for whom are all things.
(5.) He stands in a peculiar relation to his believing people, and demands their grateful tribute of thanksgiving. For he is our God and Saviour, who became incarnate for us, our substitute and surety; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand; not merely fed by his providence, but formed for himself by grace, to be a peculiar people, led by his word and Spirit, and protected by his power. Well, therefore, may we say in this view, O come, let us sing unto the Lord, who is so worthy to be praised, and to be had in everlasting remembrance.
2nd, The tribute of our lips is but a vain oblation, unless our lives also shew forth the Saviour’s praise; therefore we are called upon,
1. To hear his voice: this is our great duty as the sheep of his hand, who must know the shepherd’s voice, and follow it. Note; If Christ be our Saviour and King, justly does he expect that we should be obedient subjects: to none but these is he the author of eternal salvation.
2. This must be done immediately, to-day, while it is called to-day; delays are dangerous. By nothing are souls more frequently undone than by procrastination; they put off the concerns of eternity to a more convenient season, and perish ere it arrives.
3. We are warned of our danger. Harden not your heart against Christ and his gospel, as the Jews did, who rejected the true Messiah; and as their fathers before them had done in the wilderness, their whole conduct being one continued scene of rebellions and provocations against him. Note; (1.) However slightly men pass over their sins, in God’s sight they are highly provoking. (2.) Disbelief of God’s promises is among the greatest insults that we can shew him, yet a crime that we are very apt to disregard and make light of. (3.) That heart is hardened indeed, which the great and precious promises of the gospel cannot affect. (4.) It is wise to be warned by others misfortunes, lest we fall after the same example of unbelief.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
MY soul canst thou accept the invitation, and join with holy joy and love the pressing call of the church, and hasten to celebrate the praises of Jehovah Jesus, the Rock of thy salvation? Is he indeed thy Rock, thy Saviour, thy Holy One, thy Jesus, thy Chosen? Hath he won thy affections, gained over thine heart to his love; and dost thou know him in all those sweet and covenant relations, in which the Holy Ghost here represents him to the Church? Oh! precious view of a most blessed and precious Saviour! Help me, Lord, to put forth all my strength, and hasten to bow down the knee of my heart with all my soul and body, before his footstool. Yes! Lord, I would make a joyful noise, the loudest noise of the warmest heart, in praising thee, in loving thee, in living to thee, both in ordinances and without them, day by day, and night by night, to show forth the praises of him, who hath called me out of darkness into his marvellous light. Creation, providence, redemption, grace, glory, shall all come into the notes of my song. And I would not only call upon all that is within me to praise Jesus, but I would call upon everyone around me to make a joyful noise to the God of my salvation! And oh! thou dear Redeemer! I beseech thee, Lord, by all the endearing tokens of thy redeeming love, manifested to such a sinner as I am, grant me renewed grace in the continued exercise of faith, that while praising thee I may live upon thee, and while adoring thee my soul may increase in love towards thee. Then shall I have some faint enjoyment of what the blessed above, at the fountain-head of thy presence, richly partake of; and by learning day by day to praise thee more and more, my soul may be forming, under thy divine hand, for the everlasting enjoyment and praises of my God, in the glory that shall be revealed. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Ver. 11. Unto whom I sware ] When put past all patience, Patientia laesa fit furor.
Should not enter, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Unto whom = Where: as in Psa 95:9 (see note on “When”, Psa 95:9). Hebrew. ‘asher.
rest. The rest, thus lost, is to be yet found in the future (according to Heb 3:7-11, Heb 3:15; Heb 4:3, Heb 4:7).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 95:11
Psa 95:11
“Wherefore I sware in my wrath,
That they should not enter into my rest.”
THE REST OF GOD
This is no mere reference to the land of Canaan; It refers to the Great Salvation which God has provided for all mankind. Hebrews 4 exhorts all of us to take care that we should enter into that glorious rest. The author of Hebrews’ tying this rest in with the “God’s resting on the seventh day of creation” is one of the most instructive revelations in Holy Writ. The rest of God on the seventh day of creation is a reference to the entire dispensation of God’s dealings with the Adamic race; it also reveals that God’s “principal business” of that whole era is the salvation of people. The implication is that all of the wonderful works of God’s creation (from which he is now resting) are, in some sense, held in abeyance until the sum total of the redeemed from Adam’s race has been achieved.
There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God … Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of (Israel’s) disobedience (Heb 4:9; Heb 4:11).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 95:11. The most specific act of rebellion is recorded in Num 14:1-4 where they made the rash statement that they wished to die in the wilderness. That provoked the Lord so greatly that he decreed the death of those leaders in the wilderness, the thing they foolishly requested to happen. Not enter into MY rest. This introduces a very interesting subject, that of the 3 rests of God. The matter is treated in Hebrews 3, 4 where the language clearly shows that 3 different “rests” are considered and each of them is called “my rest.” They refer respectively to the 7th day of the week, the national rest in Canaan and the final rest in Heaven. Each of them is called “my rest” because God originated them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I sware: Num 14:23, Num 14:28-30, Deu 1:34, Deu 1:35, Heb 3:11, Heb 3:18, Heb 4:3, Heb 4:5
that they should not enter: Heb. if they enter
my rest: Gen 2:2, Gen 2:3, Jer 6:16, Mat 11:28, Mat 11:29, Hos 4:4-11, Rev 14:13
Reciprocal: Exo 33:14 – rest Num 10:33 – a resting place Num 32:10 – General Deu 2:14 – until all the generation Jos 5:6 – walked 1Sa 15:29 – will not lie Psa 106:26 – Therefore Psa 116:7 – thy rest Jer 22:5 – I Jer 31:2 – when Jer 44:22 – could Eze 5:11 – as I live Eze 20:15 – I lifted Eze 20:38 – they shall Mic 2:10 – for Mat 25:10 – and the 1Co 10:5 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 95:11. Unto whom I sware in my wrath, &c. In my just displeasure, I passed an irreversible sentence upon them, and confirmed it by an oath: that they should not enter into my rest Into the promised land, so called Deu 12:9; 1Ch 23:25, of which sentence, see Numbers 14. Now this case of the Israelites, who were prohibited from entering Canaan, is here applied by the psalmist. 1st, To those of their posterity who lived when this Psalm was composed, and they are cautioned not to harden their heart, as their forefathers did, lest, if they were stubborn and disobedient, God should be provoked to prohibit them from enjoying the privileges of his temple at Jerusalem, of which he had said, Psa 132:14, This is my rest. But it was intended also, 2d, For the instruction of all after ages, as has been observed on Psa 95:7, and particularly of those Israelites who should live in the times of the Messiah, that they might take heed of falling after the same example of unbelief, as the apostle observes from this place, Heb 4:11, where see the notes.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into {h} my rest.
(h) That is, into the land of Canaan, where he promised them rest.