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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
95:7b-11 We His People Must Heed His Voice. Since worship includes the priests reading and expounding the Scriptures, the worshipers will hear his voice (v. 7b), and in the rest of the psalm the congregation reminds itself that they must take it to heart, believing and obeying their great King. A previous generation of Israel had instead put God to the test by their unbelief. This section focuses on the inner self, the heart (v. 8, do not harden your hearts; and v. 10, go astray in their heart), where one lays hold of or rejects the grace of the covenant. As explained in the note on Psalm 95, the psalm uses Ex. 17:1-7 together with Num. 14:21-35 to make its point. God will preserve the corporate entity, the "people," in order to achieve his purposes in the world; but he wants the members of the people to be joined to him in true faith. If they rebel, they must be removed.
95:7b-8 Today, if you hear his voice, do not. Some scholars prefer to take the word "if" in the sense, "if only": "Today, if only you would hear his voice! Do not . . ." This, however, loses the connection between "today" (the day on which and of which the congregation sings) and the day at Massah. harden your hearts. The biblical writers use "heart" for the central core of the person's thoughts, feelings, and choices (cf. Prov. 4:23). To "harden the heart" is to make it dull and unresponsive to God, and thus to strengthen it in disbelief.
95:11 They shall not enter my rest. In the wilderness context, the "rest" is specifically the place of rest, i.e., the land (cf. Deut. 12:9; finally secured with David's reign, cf. 2 Sam. 7:1, 11); but, since the singing congregation is already in the land, it follows that the psalm is using "rest" as an image of enjoying God's presence forever (much as Heb. 4:1, 11 does).
