Psalms 95:11

For 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, -Warning against hardening the heart, and so forfeiting the Lord's promised rest, like the unbelieving Israelities in the wilderness. Verse 7 FOR HE IS OUR GOD. The "For" introduces the agreement justifying the preceding assertion that "the shall enter into my rest;' a formula of swearing an emphatic negative. The very formula used in , margin; Ps. 95:30; , "my rest" is "the rest and the inheritance (in Canaan) which the Lord their God gave" ()....

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 tens

7-11 Christ calls upon his people to hear his voice. You call him Master, or Lord; then be his willing, obedient people. Hear the voice of his doctrine, of his law, and in both, of his Spirit: hear and heed; hear and yield. Christ's voice must be heard to-day. This day of opportunity will not last always; improve it while it is called to-day. Hearing the voice of Christ is the same with believing. Hardness of heart is at the bottom of all distrust of the Lord. The sins of others ought to be warnings to us not to tread in their steps. The murmurings of Israel were written for our admonition. God is not subject to such passions as we are; but he is very angry at sin and sinners. That certainly is evil, which deserves such a recompence; and his threatenings are as sure as his promises. Let us be aware of the evils of our hearts, which lead us to wander from the Lord. There is a rest ordain...

UNTO WHOM I SWARE IN MY WRATH - See the notes at Hebrews 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 Hebrews 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 ki

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 other—one joyous, the other plaintive; one setting forth the "goodness" of God, the other his "severity" (Romans 11:22); one inviting to joy and thankfulness, the other to self-examination and repentance; one calling to mind God's greatness and loving

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 Numbers 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...

Psalms 95:1. _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._ There must be, there should be, joy in our worship, it is the very juice, the wine that floweth from the trodden grape. It is the cream of the soul when the heart takes delight in God and joys in him. To worship as if it were mere duty would be but the reverence of slaves before one who is dreaded, but to worship with delight, this is the adoration of children who come to whom they love. God grant us that joy while we adore the Lord. Let us, however, mingle great reverence with joy. Psalms 95:3. _For the LORD is a great God, and a great king above all gods._ «For the L

Psalms 95 In Anticipation of His Coming _ 1. Singing unto Him? (Psalms 95:1)_ 2. Let us worship and bow down (Psalms 95:6) 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 Psalms 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

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 Exodus 17:1 ff. and Numbers 20:1 ff. PSALMS 95:4. HEIGHTS: (not strength, _mg.)._ The poet contrasts the deep places of the earth with the mountain peaks....

UNTO WHOM. Where: as in Psalms 95:9 (see note on "When", Psalms 95:9). Hebrew. _'asher._ REST. The rest, thus lost, is to be yet found in the future (according to Hebrews 3:7; Hebrews 3:15; Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 4:7)....