Works Volume 4, Book 4 · Psalm 95
The Ninety Fifth PSALM.
The Ninety Fifth Pſalm is an invitation to all to bleſs and praiſe the Name of God, and to live obediently before him. 'Tis affirmed to be written by David, Heb. 4.7. and may probably have been fitted by him, among others here put together, for the ſolemnity of bringing the Ark to the place of Gods reſt, v. 11. and is by the Jews *R. Gaon, Raſi, Kimchi.confeſt to refer to the duties of the Meſſias, as we ſee it applyed, Heb. 3. & 4.
1. O Come, let us ſing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noiſe to the rock of our ſalvation.
Paraphrase. 1. The Lord of heaven is he from whom all our deliverance and ſtrength doth come, (ſee note on Pſal. 89. l.) O let us uniformly joyn in praiſing and glorifying his Name.
2. Let us come before his preſence with thankſgiving, and make a joyful noiſe unto him with Pſalms.
Paraphrase. 2. Let us make our daily conſtant addreſſes to him with all the acknowledgments and expreſſions of thankful hearts;
3. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods,
Paraphrase. 3. As to him that is the ſupreme God of heaven and earth, the only ſuper-eminent Monarch over all powers and dignities, the Angels his miniſters in heaven, and the mightieſt Princes his vicegerents upon earth.
4. In his hands are the ‖ſecret parts foreigndeep places of the earth; the ſtrength of the hills is his alſo.
Paraphrase. 4. The bowels and bottom of the earth are in his diſpoſal, and (what is emblematically intimated by them) the meaneſt and loweſt men or creatures on the earth are particularly reſpected and ordered by his providence in all that befals them here; and ſo likewiſe the loftieſt and ſtouteſt hills, and the mightieſt men in the world are bounded and governed by him.
5. The ſea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.
Paraphrase. 5. It is he that framed the whole Orb of the ſea and dry land, and contrived them ſo, the one in the bowels of the other, that neither ſhould incommodate the other, but both together make up an uſeful globe for men and all other creatures to inhabit.
6. O come let us worſhip, and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Paraphrase. 6. O let us joyntly adore, and praiſe, and pray unto him, and make the members of our bodies partners and witneſſes of the real devotion of our hearts, joyn inward and outward reverence together, even the ſubmiſſeſt and lowlieſt geſtures, to ſignifie and expreſs the ſincere humility of our ſouls, a tribute moſt due to him who is both Lord and Creator of all.
7. For he is our God, and we are the people of his †or, dominionpaſture and ſheep of his hand; To day *or if you will to day hear —if ye will hear his voice,
Paraphrase. 7. For although we have oft rebelled againſt him, and ſo oft deſerved his dereliction, and oft ſmarted for it, yet if now at length we ſhall be wrought on by his calls and warning, and perform ſincere obedience to him, he is moſt ready to accept us, to take us into his care and protection, and ſecure us from all our enemies.
8. Harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderneſs,
9. When your fathers tempted me, proved me, ‖or, though they foreignand ſaw my works.
Paraphrase. 8, 9. Our Anceſtors, when they had been delivered by him, with the greateſt manifeſtation of his almighty power, from the hardeſt oppreſſion and ſlavery in Egypt, were yet ſo unthankful and obdurate, that they repined and murmured at every turn, ten times one after another, Numb. 14.22. apoſtatizing from, and rebelling againſt them; they would not believe and relie on his power, though it were abundantly teſtified to him by miraculous effects of it, but ſtill required more miracles and aſſurances of his preſence among them, and hereby they moſt ſadly provoked Gods wrath. O let not us, that have ſo liberally taſted of his power and goodneſs and long-ſuffering, and are yet afforded his calls to repentance, imitate theſe in our ingratitude and impenitence.
10. Forty years long was I †wearied foreigngrieved with this generation, and ſaid, It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways.
11. Unto whom I ſware in my wrath that they ſhould not enter into my reſt.
Paraphrase. 10, 11. Thoſe Anceſtors of ours for the ſpace of forty years (wherein God for their ſins deteined and perplext them in the wilderneſs of Sin) did very frequently provoke God to indignation, made him reſolve that they were a moſt ſtupid, idolatrous people, that preferred the ſervice of the *foreign a people whoſe idols are in their hearts, Chald.irrational Egyptian falſe gods, and devils, before the obedience and worſhip of the one true God of heaven and earth; and therefore being as it were tired out with their continued provocations, God at length by an oath obliged himſelf irreverſibly, that of all the many thouſands that were liſted after their coming out of Egypt, none, but only Caleb and Joſhua, ſhould enter the promiſed land of Canaan. O let us not offend after their example, leſt we follow them in their puniſhments alſo, and be denied our part in Gods reſt here, the priviledges of the Ark and preſence of God among us, in Jeruſalem, where he hath promiſed to reſt and dwell for ever, if we do not provoke him to forſake us. (How this was applicable to the Jews under the times of Chriſt, ſee note b.)
Annotations on Pſalm XCV.
foreignV. 7. His paſture] When the Pſalmiſt uſeth theſe two phraſes together, foreign people of his paſture, and foreign ſheep or cattel of his hand, 'tis obvious to diſcern the ſeeming impropriety, and withal to cure it, by interchanging the adjuncts, and annexing the hand to the people, and the paſture to the ſheep. But it is more reaſonable to fetch the explication from the different ſignifications of foreign, as for feeding, ſo for governing, equally appliable to men and cattel, from whence it is but analogy, that foreign which ſignifies a paſture, where cattel are fed, ſhould alſo ſignifie dominion or kingdom, or any kind of foreign, wherein a people are governed. And then the other part, the ſheep of his hand, will be a ſit, though figurative expreſſion, the ſhepheard that feeds, and rules, and leads the ſheep, doing it by his hand, which manageth the rod and ſtaff, Pſal. 23.4. by which they are adminiſtred. The Jewiſh Arab reads, the people of his feeding, or flock, and the ſheep of his guidance.
foreignIbid. If] foreign, which is here rendred If, is elſewhere oft uſed for an optative ſign, and expreſſion of a wiſh. So Luk. 19.42. foreign, If thou kneweſt, for, O that thou kneweſt; and Luk. 22.42. foreign, If thou wilt, for, O that thou wouldeſt remove this cup from me. So Exod. 32.32. foreign, If thou wilt, for, O that thou wouldeſt forgive them. And if ſo it be here, then the rendring muſt be, foreign &c. O that to day you would hear his voice, live obedient to him, as people to a Ruler, or ſheep to a Paſtor. And this may be thought needful to the making the ſenſe compleat in this verſe, which otherwiſe is thought to hang (though not ſo fitly) on the eighth verſe, and not to be finiſht without it. But it may be conſidered alſo, whether this verſe be not more complete in it ſelf, by rendring foreign if, thus, Let us worſhip, and bow down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker; For he is our God, and we are the people of his paſture, and ſheep of his hand, if ye will hear his voice to day, (or, as the Jewiſh Arab reads, ſheep of his hand, or guidance to day, i. e. ſpeedily, if ye will hear his voice, perform obedience to him) ſetting the words in form of a conditionate promiſe, thereby to inforce the performance of the condition on our part. The condition to the performance of which they are exhorted, v. 6. is paying God the worſhip and lowly obedience due to him; and the promiſe ſecured to them on this performance, that he will be their God, and they his people of his paſture, &c. i. e. that God will take the ſame care of them that a ſhepheard of his ſheep, preſerve them from all enemies, Midianites, Philiſtims, Canaanites, &c. and that though for their rebellions and diſobediences againſt God, they had hitherto been oft diſturbed, and not long ſince the Ark taken by their heathen enemies, yet if now, to day, they ſhall at length hear Gods voice, and perform this obedience ſincerely, they ſhall alſo be ſecured, that their enemies ſhould no more diſturb them, their Ark ſhould no more be captive, but enjoy a reſt, v. 11. with them for ever in Jeruſalem. That to this of Jeruſalem, the reſt ſpoken of by David referred, as well as to the land of Canaan, in Moſes's time, is the obſervation of Rab. Solomon, foreign to the land of Iſrael, and alſo Jeruſalem, which is called a reſt, as 'tis ſaid, This is my reſt for ever, here will I dwell. And ſo their enjoying this reſt of Gods, theſe priviledges of the Ark and Gods preſence among them, was the completion of the promiſe on Gods part, that he would be their God, and they his people, &c. And according to this ſenſe of this verſe, the Apoſtles diſcourſe ſeemeth to be framed, Heb. 4 6, 7. thus, ſeeing they to whom it was firſt preached entred not in becauſe of unbelief: Again he limiteth a certain day, ſaying, To day, &c. i. e. notwithſtanding all former rebellions, if you will now come in, the promiſed reſt ſhall be made good to you. Which the Apoſtle there applies to the Hebrews, under the preaching of the Goſpel; not as if it had no completion in Davids time, by the carrying up the Ark to Jeruſalem, and Gods reſting, and their worſhipping him there; but becauſe beyond that, the Pſalm had a farther completion in the Meſſias, (as the Jews themſelves, Rab. Kimchi and others confeſs, in whom God did much more eminently dwell, than he ever did in the Ark, or Temple at Jeruſalem. From whence therefore the Apoſtle concludes, that there then remained a reſt to the people of God, the perſecuted Chriſtians, and to all unbelieving Jews, upon condition, if they ſhall hearken to the voice of God in the preaching of the Goſpel. For then notwithſtanding all their misbehaviours continued untill that time (of his writting to them that warning) they ſhould yet be Gods people, and enjoy the glorious promiſes of peace and happineſs under the Meſſiah. In which words, to day if, a farther offer of grace and pardon is made to thoſe Jews, on condition of timely reformation. And ſo elſewhere, according to theſe grounds, the Apoſtle ſaith, 'twas neceſſary that the Goſpel ſhould firſt be preached to the Jews, but they then again refuſing, it was to depart from them, and be promulgated to the Gentiles, who in the ſcheme here uſed in this verſe, are called by Chriſt other ſheep, Joh. 10.16. which are not of this fold, taken in by God into his Church upon their hearing his voice, when the Jews, who, if they would have heard at that time, had ſtill continued his ſheep, were caſt out, and given over, as loſt ſheep, for their not hearing.