Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 95. This psalm summons those singing it to learn the lesson from the rebellion of a previous generation and to commit themselves to faithfully heeding God's "voice." This psalm can be called a prophetic hymn (cf. Psalm 81 [which also remembers Meribah] and Psalm 82), as it echoes themes found in the OT Prophets; or it can be called a historical psalm (cf. Psalm 78, esp. vv. 7-8), as it draws a lesson from the history of Israel. (There is a fine line between the two categories.) The combination of Meribah and Massah shows that the psalm draws its lesson from the Israelites' grumbling against Moses because they had no water (Ex. 17:1-7). At the same time, this event did not lead to God's decisive oath found in the psalm. That oath comes in Num. 14:21-35, after the people had listened to the report of the 10 faithless spies and refused to enter the land to take it. The Lord swore ("as I live," Num. 14:21, 28) that not one of those who grumbled in disbelief "shall come into the land" (Num. 14:29-30); the 40 days of spying would yield 40 years of wandering (Num. 14:34). That is, those who refuse in unbelief to obey God's voice (Num. 14:11) would be removed from the people, and there would be a delay in the people carrying out their calling to occupy the land. The psalm takes the incident at Meribah and Massah as an early installment of this persistent unbelief, which culminated in refusal to enter the land. The psalm has two parts: the first a celebration of God's kingship and the privilege that his people enjoy as they worship him (Ps. 95:1-7a), and the second a warning not to repeat the rebellion of their ancestors (vv. 7b-11). The first section explains why the psalm appears with Psalms 93-99, and also serves to highlight the folly of any kind of rebellion in the face of such an astounding privilege. Hebrews 3:7-11 uses Ps. 95:7b-11, placing its audience in an analogous situation to the Israelites in the wilderness: for these Jews to abandon their explicit faith in Jesus in order to return to the safety of "ordinary" Judaism would be like the rebellion of Israel in the wilderness, a mark of unbelief. As in the psalm, Hebrews makes every day a "today" that calls for renewed faithfulness.

95:1-7a The Lord Is King. The members of the congregation singing these verses invite one another to the great privilege of worshiping the Lord, the great God, the great King above all gods. On the kind of kingship attributed to God here, see note on Psalm 93. God is King over creation: it is his, he made it, and he rules over it all (it is in his hand, i.e., under his authority). The marvel of being Israel is that such a majestic King has pledged himself to his people, making them the sheep of his hand (cf. note on 74:1-3). It is no surprise, then, that worship offered to him would be both exuberant (sing, make a joyful noise, thanksgiving, songs of praise) with astonished wonder, and humble (bow down, kneel) before such majesty. The whole person, body and soul, must offer this worship.